PROBING CONSUMER BENEFITS AND BARRIERS FOR THE NATIONAL 5-A-DAY CAMPAIGN - FOCUS GROUP FINDINGS

This research identifies benefits that target consumers from the natio nal 5 A Day for Better Health media program find motivating, as well a s barriers that these benefits must overcome. Conventional and ''piggy back'' 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 grou p participants saw little urgency to eating more fruits and vegetables and were not veri involved with food planning. Results that seemed li kely to encourage more consumption of fruits and vegetables were immed iate benefits-such as feeling more energetic-rather than long-term ben efits related to reducing health risks. Target consumers rejected as i mplausible or irrelevant other benefits that strategists had considere d appropriate: feeling less stress and more in control and reducing on e's risk of cancer. The target audience saw barriers of time and incon venience in the ''normal steps'' in the comparison group's routine. Re sults have been used to develop communications. The findings suggest t hat nutrition educators should use messages with immediate consumer be nefits and, consistent with prior research and theory, should offer '' quick and easy'' tips for consumers to attain the desired health-relat ed behavior. The findings also underscore the importance of direct con sumer research to ensure that program messages and strategies are rele vant to the target audience. The study also illustrates the utility of piggyback groups to clarify differences and similarities between targ et and comparison segments and to assess how, if at all, comparison se gments can effectively model desired consumer behavior.