Mar 16, 2005 6:08 AM, PROMO Xtra, By Amy Johannes

In the wake of growing numbers of childhood obesity, the McDonald's Corp. has launched a new campaign to promote healthy eating and exercise targeting youngsters.

McDonald's taps into star power from the Williams sisters' to promote its active lifestyle campaign

The "it's what I eat and what I do...i'm lovin' it" campaign includes a fresh approach to advertising with new packaging, TV ads, print ads, educational brochures and a refreshed Web site that includes active lifestyle tips.

"One of the best things we can do is communicate the importance of energy balance in an engaging and simple way," said CEO Jim Skinner, in a statement. "'It's what I eat and what I do...I'm lovin' it' is a great new message within our 'i'm lovin' it' theme, and will tie all our balanced, active lifestyles messages together. We are listening to our customers and committed to taking leadership action where we can make a difference."

The new balanced, active lifestyles campaign is designed to inspire McDonald's customers to improve their overall well being.

New televisions ads feature Olympic tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams and snowboard hopeful Crispin Lipscomb with advocate Ronald McDonald.

In addition, a team of Olympic athletes, hopefuls and moms led by world-renowned hockey player Wayne Gretzky and five-time gold-medal winning speed skater Bonnie Blair, will be featured in ads spanning the globe.

This month, McDonald's will extend its message to include Happy Meals by placing education tips on boxes in the U.S. and on standard packaging as early as May. Standard packaging rollouts in Canada and Latin America will follow.

McDonald's has updated its GoActive.com Web site with a new look, adding active lifestyle tips and family fitness tool kits. The site also features a "Finding Your Balance" quiz and a virtual trainer program for consumers.

The fast food giant will take its message further this fall by releasing the first two in a series of Ronald McDonald videos intended to show kids what fun they can have when they stay active. The videos will be released in more than 50 countries and will feature a dozen different languages.

As a secondary effort, Ronald McDonald will be making rounds as a health ambassador in local elementary schools through a new Go Active With Ronald McDonald school show scheduled to launch this fall. The 30-minute show emphasizes the importance of everyday life to school-aged children and "encourages them to have fun through active play," said Carol Koepke, senior director-marketing, McDonald's USA.

"McDonald's has a special relationship with children," Koepke said. "Their health and well-being is important to us. We want to be relevant to children and focus on what is important to them and their parents."

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