Dole plc has announced its 2022 sponsorship of the award winning “Eat Them To Defeat Them” healthy eating campaign in the UK.

The initiative, dedicated to promoting fresh vegetables to school children, combines extensive in-school activities and a high profile, primetime TV campaign. 

Eat Them to Defeat Them takes the unique and unusual approach of agreeing with children that vegetables are evil. Not just evil, but taking over the world - and the only way to beat them, is to eat them. 2021’s campaign evaluation found that just over three-quarters of kids confirmed they found it fun, with nearly 60% of children who participated in schools claiming they ate more vegetables as a result. 

The £3 million (US$4.1 million) campaign launched on Feb. 12 with the advert shown during the primetime finale of The Masked Singer on ITV.

In 2021, the campaign reached 43 million Britons and the aim this year is to reach 70 percent of UK households with primary school-aged children.  The campaign is funded by eight major food retailers and brands - Aldi, ASDA, Coop, Dole plc, Lidl, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose. It was developed by advertising agency adam&eveDDB.

The campaign's schools programme will launch just after the ads have appeared in primetime family viewing slots and will run for five weeks, with a different family-favourite veg featured each week.

Participating schools will enjoy vegetables tasting sessions, posters, teaching aids and games.  The target is for one million children to receive a vegetable reward chart and sticker pack.

Speaking of the sponsorship, Vincent Dolan, Head of Corporate Communications at Dole plc, said: “This is our second year supporting this incredibly worthwhile campaign.

"By bringing fresh produce to primetime, and by doing so in an innovative and fun way, Eat Them To Defeat Them fundamentally challenges children’s perceptions of vegetables- a process in which we in Dole are very proud to be able to play our part," he said.