Report Highlights Effectiveness of Nicholson-funded Digital Media Campaign to Improve Health

The Public Good Projects received a grant from The Nicholson Foundation to create and implement NJ Sugarfreed—a cutting-edge digital media campaign focused on increasing knowledge about and reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) among certain vulnerable populations in New Jersey. Excessive consumption of added sugars has been linked to numerous negative health outcomes, including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and tooth decay. Much of the added sugars in Americans’ diets comes from consuming SSBs, such as sodas, sports drinks, fruit drink mixes, and juices.

An evaluation of the first nine months of the campaign showed that the Public Good Projects’ work successfully resulted in positive change. The neighborhoods targeted by the campaign witnessed a substantial decrease in sales of SSBs, and surveys of key audiences demonstrated changes in knowledge and attitudes toward SSBs and the perceived acceptability of allowing children to consume soda. 

The Public Good Projects is also making the digital media content developed for this campaign freely available to other organizations interested in improving public health by reducing the consumption of SSBs. 

• Download the report
• Access the NJ Sugarfreed content