Spud king takes aim at junk food
Spud king Tony Galati will stage a Jamie Oliver-style public awareness campaign about the dangers of fast food, with plans to make parents feel guilty for feeding it to their children.
Mr Galati will run television TV and radio ads, featuring his grandchildren, and hopes to speak at schools about the effect of junk food on children’s behaviour and health, including diabetes and heart problems.
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It is a new front in Mr Galati’s fight against “the big boys,” claiming he will take on conglomerates like McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s the same way he has challenged supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths.
The Spud Shed boss said the campaign was prompted partly by the effects of his own previously unhealthy lifestyle, revealing he has shed 20kg in the past year since he quit junk food.
“I see how it affected me — eating fast food and being lazy,” Mr Galati said. “I felt I had no energy, I was apathetic. It was horrible, and once you get in that frame it’s very hard to get out.
“I am going to get to the stage that I push parents so hard that when they take their kids to fast food they are going to feel bad, they are going to feel guilty.”
He is working with a marketing company on the campaign, due to start in September or October, but declined to name the firm or reveal the cost.
He said it would be similar to British chef Jamie Oliver’s school dinners campaign, but would feature his grandchildren to “converse with kids their age so they know it’s cool to eat fruit and veg”.
