Promoting play, promoting service
The President makes a great catch, onscreen, in a new NFL public service announcement that promotes both community service and the idea that kids should get out and run around for sixty minutes a day. The new campaign is a partnership between United We Serve, the government service initiative, and NFL's Play 60, an anti-obesity campaign that promotes exercise. It'll premiere on Thanksgiving during Bowl games, and run for the rest of the football season.
The video was shot on the South Lawn of the White House, and features DC school kids tossing the pigskin with the President, as well as football stars Troy Polamalu of the Steelers, Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware. Kids running around might seem like a no-brainer, but with many schools not even offering PE and recess, it's a sad but true fact that we need this kind of PSA. The child obesity epidemic in America has soared in the last decade, with millions of kids at risk for chronic, diet-related disease. An estimated 32 percent of children are overweight, with 17 percent classified as obese. The President is a Steelers fan, BTW, and the entire team visited the White House in the Spring, after their Super Bowl win.
