The social marketing and branding of Push Play is fun, clear and distinctive. The message of regular, moderate physical activity, 30 minutes on most days, has a sound theoretical base. Push Play resulted in an increased awareness of physical activity messages and increased intention to be active. Over the short term, it has been at least as effective as similar overseas campaigns, and probably more effective than several others. This is a satisfactory outcome. As Bauman et al point out in this issue,1 successful campaigns in other countries, at least in terms of brand recognition, have sometimes run for decades. This has also been the case in road-safety and tobacco-control campaigns in New Zealand, where the public health messages have been relatively clear for some time. As long as physical inactivity remains a significant economic and health burden a national campaign must continue.

The Push Play campaign used a generic and culturally inclusive message. Whilst there are advantages to a generic message, especially in being relevant to all New Zealanders, there is a good chance that the message provides little specific direction for being active. The Push Play campaign, like the Active Australia and Canadian Participaction campaigns, may suffer for this. The utility of more specific media campaigns is not well understood in physical activity health promotion. However, the 10 000 steps message used in the 10 000 Steps Rockhampton (Queensland, Australia) physical activity campaign has been a successful social marketing exercise. Pedometers were promoted to monitor accumulated physical activity with an eventual daily goal of 10 000 steps for mobile adults. After one year awareness had moved from 10.9% (baseline) to 92.0%.2 Significant increases in health-related physical activity, at least for females, were observed. This two-year project goes well beyond simple branding and is looking carefully at policy and environmental change. The 10 000 Steps social marketing has achieved excellent brand recognition, well beyond that of Push Play.

The important thing to understand about a media campaign for public health is that it must not stand in isolation. Media alone have little chance of doing anything but raising awareness of messages. Social marketing is simply an umbrella under which a framework for sustainable behaviour change can sit. We should not expect media campaigns to influence behaviour directly or immediately. We should expect that a national campaign of this size be backed up with appropriate policy, environmental, and individual behaviour-change infrastructure. In my opinion, the missing link in New Zealand has been environmental change. A salient example of a pathological environment for an active lifestyle is our largest city, Auckland. Active commuting is still difficult. In fact, commuting at all is difficult, leaving less time for active living. While urban designers and politicians debate where new roads might go, little attention has been paid to the potential benefits of active commuting solutions. Simple solutions such as pedestrian and cycle access to the Auckland Harbour Bridge are not on the agenda.

While people of all ages can benefit from regular, moderate physical activity, the group who arguably needs the most attention is our youth. Active young people will hopefully become active adults. Starting early and maintaining an active lifestyle through life must be a priority. Unfortunately, we have paid little attention to our youth. Surveillance has been an area of concern to me for sometime. Despite claims that New Zealand youth are active,3 few data other than proxy report exist for youth. Without reliable and accurate physical activity data we have little to work with. For our children (under 12 years), objective measurement of physical activity is a necessity. I advocate the use of motion detectors, such as accelerometers or pedometers, wherever possible. The problem is, of course, that these methods are expensive. Less costly solutions are available for adolescents. Self-report methods may be appropriate.

We must also understand the determinants of physical inactivity in these and other New Zealand groups. The influence of family, psychosocial, and environmental factors likely differs amongst New Zealand’s range of European, Maori, Pacific Island, Asian, and other ethnic groups, and amongst different ages and genders. Understanding of these differences with the aid of quality population data will inform successful intervention.

Increasing population physical activity is implicit in solving the obesity epidemic. With rising adult obesity in New Zealand4 and youth obesity now reaching epidemic proportions overseas,5 we need to understand the determinants of positive energy balance in New Zealand. We do not yet know the prevalence of obesity in our youth. Nor do we understand whether population increases in weight are due to changes in caloric intake, decreased activity, or both. Some British and US data6,7 indicate that inactivity rather than overeating may be the cause. Calls for burger bans and fast-food taxes need to be based on evidence rather than emotion. At present, we have little evidence either way in New Zealand.

The $3 million Push Play campaign potentially represents value for the health dollar. Promoting physical activity is a public health smart buy. This campaign must continue. However, if real and sustained behaviour change is to be achieved, Push Play must be backed up with policy and environmental change, and interagency cooperation. With burgeoning sedentary recreation and increasing use of technological time- and energy-saving devices, the physical and social environment of New Zealanders could now be regarded as pathological. Environmental change must be a priority. One of our priority groups, youth, first needs regular and quality surveillance work. Such work must consider the role of both physical activity and nutrition in population energy balance.

Author information: Grant Schofield, Senior Lecturer, Division of Sport and Recreation, Auckland University of Technology Sport and Fitness Centre, Auckland

Correspondence: Dr Grant Schofield, Division of Sport and Recreation, Auckland University of Technology Sport and Fitness Centre, Private Bag 92006, Auckland. Fax: (09) 917 9960; email: grant.schofield@aut.ac.nz