Probing consumer benefits and barriers for the national 5 a day campaign: Focus group findings

This research identifies benefits that target consumers from the national 5 A Day for Better Health media program find motivating, as well as barriers that these benefits must overcome. Conventional and ''piggyback'' focus groups were conducted with the target audience and with a comparison group (people who already eat five or more servings a day of fruits and vegetables). Consistent with prior research, target group participants saw little urgency to eating more fruits and vegetables and were not veri involved with food planning. Results that seemed likely to encourage more consumption of fruits and vegetables were immediate benefits-such as feeling more energetic-rather than long-term benefits related to reducing health risks. Target consumers rejected as implausible or irrelevant other benefits that strategists had considered appropriate: feeling less stress and more in control and reducing one's risk of cancer. The target audience saw barriers of time and inconvenience in the ''normal steps'' in the comparison group's routine. Results have been used to develop communications. The findings suggest that nutrition educators should use messages with immediate consumer benefits and, consistent with prior research and theory, should offer ''quick and easy'' tips for consumers to attain the desired health-related behavior. The findings also underscore the importance of direct consumer research to ensure that program messages and strategies are relevant to the target audience. The study also illustrates the utility of piggyback groups to clarify differences and similarities between target and comparison segments and to assess how, if at all, comparison segments can effectively model desired consumer behavior.