The Parents Step Up campaign is a thought-leader on the topic of parental responsibility and accountability as it relates to childhood obesity. The South Florida public information campaign's premise is that although there are many causes of childhood obesity - fast food, video games, no physical education in schools - a parent is ultimately responsible and accountable for a child becoming overweight or obese.

The TV and print ads drive traffic to the website, which educates parents and provides resources to help families make changes regarding nutrition and exercise. Parents Step Up is a bilingual campaign - Familias En Marcha features the ads, and website in Spanish.

It is the only campaign in the nation proven to increase mom’s perceived levels of responsibility for their children becoming overweight or obese. Parents Step Up/Familias En Marcha campaign was evaluated in 2006, through a research grant from Health Foundation of South Florida. The evaluation revealed the campaign is effective. A quote from the evaluation report, conducted by an independent market research firm Behavior Science Research:

"The research was culled from four distinct groups: white-non-Hispanics, African Americans, English-speaking Hispanics and Spanish-speaking Hispanics. The research found that the respondents placed a significant amount of childhood obesity responsibility on parents. The research bears out that the campaign has raised the level of conscientiousness in all four target groups. Research confirms that the controversial Parents Step Up / Familias en Marcha campaign has led to an increase in parental responsibility regarding childhood obesity."

• The campaign is increasing by 67% female heads of households perceived level of responsibility for their children being overweight or obese.
• The campaign is increasing by 30% mom's perceived level of responsibility for their children's inactivity or being out of shape.
• After seeing the advertising, 81% of the respondents indicated they were either 'very interested' or 'interested' in visiting the websites.

Additionally, the website in 14 months generated 300,000+ hits and 30,000+ unique visitors.

The nationally innovative public information campaign was piloted in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties and was sponsored by Baptist Health South Florida, Pharmed Group, and Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. Parents Step Up currently is part of the nation’s first comprehensive, multi-campaign initiative in Tampa Bay, Florida.

To learn more, visit www.parentsstepup.com. To learn more, in Espanol www.familiasenmarcha.com.