Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Sofia inspired children to get more active.
The VIGeZ and Disney Benelux joined forces to create the Woogie Boogie campaign which aimed to get kids moving. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Sofia and other favourite Disney characters inspired children between 3 and 6 years old to get off the sofa and move together in a series of videos that aired on Disney Junior. Mickey Mouse, for example, encouraged children to throw their hands in the air, shake their hips and tap their legs like a drum.
It may not seem like it but children often spend too much time sitting still: in the car, at home, and at school. The statistics from the recent VIGeZ report on sedentary behavior proved that: children in Flanders spent between 6 to 9.5 hours a day sitting still, which equates to around 50% to 80% of the time they spend awake.
The exercises that featured in the videos were carefully chosen by VIGeZ together with Disney. Not only did they help to encourage children to stand up and move, but they also helped develop their motor skills. The more the children repeated the exercises, the easier they found them.
The clips were around 1-minute-long and were broadcast daily on Disney Junior. They were also available to view on YouTube. Every clip was accompanied by an instruction sheet that explained the movements step by step. These were handy tools for every kindergarten teacher to use to get kids up and moving in the classroom in a fun way.
It’s not a coincidence that the VIGeZ and Disney Benelux worked together to focus on encouraging children to lead healthier lifestyles. Since 2006, Disney has been committed to helping families make healthier choices, using its stories and characters to make healthy living simple and fun.
We know that children’s favourite characters have an enormous influence on their behavior. We wanted to use popular Disney characters and stories to inspire children in a positive way and to encourage healthy behavior. Also, reducing the amount of time that infants sit still and encouraging them to be more active can protect against short term health conditions like obesity as well as long term health conditions, said Femke De Meester of the VIGeZ.
Inge Martens, GM, Consumer Products and Retail from Disney Benelux explains further: “Disney wants to encourage children to stand up and move and our beloved characters can be the perfect motivators. It has been very important for us to create this project in collaboration with the VIGeZ; with their strong expertise in understanding children’s movement and Disney’s storytelling we have created powerful content to reach this audience.”