Children's Teeth Tops Parents' Halloween Concerns, According to New Survey

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Kids' Healthy Mouths Campaign Celebrates National Brush Day® on November 1st

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Oct 28, 2014, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- This Halloween more than two-thirds of parents say they are concerned about their children's teeth; far more than those who are concerned about stomachaches, costume choices and nightmares. With more than 80 percent of parents saying their kids will participate in a Halloween celebration this year, and with cavities being a top concern, the Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign is celebrating National Brush Day® on November 1^st to reiterate the importance of brushing for two minutes, twice a day every day.

National Brush Day® is an ongoing initiative celebrated on November 1^st on behalf of the Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign, which was initially launched by The Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives and the Ad Council in August 2012. Kids' Healthy Mouths recently announced a new series of PSAs, created pro bono by ad agency Grey New York, which feature humorous depictions of life lessons which make the point that while parenting can be tricky at times, getting kids to brush for two minutes, twice a day can be easier than many other things parents will try to teach their children.

"National Brush Day® is a wonderful time to remind parents about the importance of their children's oral health, especially after a candy-heavy holiday like Halloween," said campaign spokesperson, and former host of E! News, Kristina Guerrero. "This will be my son Mateo's second Halloween and first ever National Brush Day®. It is crucial to instill good dental habits early in life and it's great to have a day dedicated to spreading the word about getting kids to brush for two minutes, twice a day."

To take part in National Brush Day®, parents and caregivers can join the Kids' Healthy Mouths communities and share new campaign images on Facebook and Twitter (@brush2min2x). In addition to an extensive public relations and social media campaign, Kids' Healthy Mouths is kicking off its first video contest leveraging Zooppa.com, the world's leading crowd sourced marketing platform for producing creative content. The contest will encourage amateur and professional video makers to create videos showing how difficult it is to teach a child something if a parent only has two minutes, leveraging the campaign strategy and using the hashtag #BrushRules.

"We are so excited to see the continued success of this extraordinary campaign," said Ad Council CEO, Peggy Conlon, "This campaign truly exemplifies the power of advertising to impact attitudes and behaviors and National Brush Day® is an ideal time to remind parents about children's oral health."

Parents are also encouraged to visit the campaign website, 2min2x.org where parents and children can watch entertaining videos–all 2 minutes in length–while brushing their teeth. Campaign media partners, including Cartoon Network and myKaZootv, donated snippets of videos for the site.

"Seventy five percent of parents report that their child sometimes or frequently forgets to brush his or her teeth," said Gary Price, Secretary and CEO of the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation. "We need all parents to get involved in National Brush Day® so we can instill lifelong habits in children that will continue throughout their lives."

As an extension of the campaign, the Ad Council also recently launched a mobile program in-house on behalf of Kids' Healthy Mouths that will engage parents and their kids in a fun and creative brushing challenge that supports the campaign's main goal of encouraging parents to make sure their children brush their teeth for two minutes, twice a day. Users will meet the voice of the program, "Joy," who will help brand and personalize the texter's experience. The campaign also includes a mobile gaming app called "Toothsavers" which has received over 120,000 downloads since January of 2014.

Since its launch in 2012, more than 1.7 million people have visited 2min2x.org and the English and Spanish-language PSAs have received more than $64 million in donated media across TV, radio, print, web and outdoor outlets. Additionally, a 2013 Ad Council survey showed that in one year, English-speaking parents reported that their children were significantly more likely to brush twice a day (55 percent in 2013, up from 48 percent in 2012) and significantly more likely to brush for two minutes each time (64 percent in 2013, up from 60 percent in 2012). Spanish-speaking parents report improvement as well, with an increase in those saying that their child brushes at least twice a day (66 percent in 2013, up from 63 percent in 2012) and significantly more reporting their kids are brushing for two minutes (77 percent in 2013, up from 69 percent in 2012).

For more information about the Kids' Healthy Mouths campaign, visit 2min2x.org and follow the campaign's social media communities on Facebook and Twitter (@brush2min2x).

The Ad Council's survey was conducted by LightSpeed Research in September 2014. The nationally representative online survey included 600 parents with children 0-12.

Campaign Partners:

The Ad Council
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization with a rich history of marshalling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to deliver critical messages to the American public. Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has affected, and continues to affect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit http://www.adcouncil.org/, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or view our PSAs on YouTube.

Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives
The Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives is a coalition of the leading organizations in the field of oral health. The Partnership is committed to improve children's oral health so that they can develop into healthy, productive adults. The coalition shares the view that no child should be in pain and suffer broader health issues or endure the social stigma and lack of opportunity resulting from untreated dental diseases and conditions. The coalition's primary mission is to teach parents and caregivers, as well as the children themselves, to take control of their own health through oral disease prevention. A complete list of members of the Partnership can be found here.

SOURCE The Ad Council