(P02-093-25) Evaluating the Impacts of “Lowcountry Food Bank’s Social Marketing GO. Whoa. Eat Smart Campaign

Objectives: Social marketing campaigns at food pantries can be highly effective in strengthening nutrition education, raising awareness and promoting healthy dietary choices. The purpose of the evaluation was to measure message recall and awareness of “Lowcountry Food Bank’s Social Marketing GO. Whoa. Eat Smart Campaign” in South Carolina.

Methods: This cross-sequential study randomly two pantries in South Carolina to implement the campaign which included signage on display in pantries where direct nutrition education has also taken place. A total of 103 participants were recruited using convenient sampling at three points (baseline, 3-month and 6-month). An evaluation tool was developed by implementing agencies to compare participants’ signage and message recall, influence on food choices, and recall of individual fruits and vegetable signage at baseline vs. 6-month and 3-month vs. 6-month levels. Data was analyzed using StataNow SE v.18.0 software. T-tests and chi-square were conducted to compare the changes at different time points.

Results: Overall, the signage recall increased significantly (p = 0.018) from 3-month to 6-month follow-up but showed a non-significant increase from baseline to 6-month follow-up (mean difference = -0.43). Message recall and messages influencing food choices declined non-significantly over time at both comparison levels. Among fruits, recall of the “apple” signage improved significantly (p < 0.001) from 15.6% to 64.5% across both baseline vs. 6-month and 3-month vs. 6-month levels. “Grape” signage recall improved from 10% to 34.5% at baseline vs. 6-month (p = 0.007), while “orange” recall increased from 10.5% to 34.5% at 3-month vs. 6-month (p = 0.033). For vegetables, significant changes were noted in “broccoli” and “tomato” signage recall. “Broccoli” recall increased from 12.5% to 54.8% (p = 0.001) and 15.8% to 54.8% (p = 0.003) at baseline vs. 6-month and 3-month vs. 6-month, respectively. Similarly, “tomato” recall increased from 12.5% to 45.2% (p = 0.011) and 18.4% to 45.2% (p = 0.046) at these levels.

Conclusions: The “Lowcountry Food Bank’s Social Marketing GO. Whoa. Eat Smart Campaign” showed significant improvements in most signage recalls during follow-ups but had no impact on message recall or self-reported food choices.

Funding Sources: USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)