NFL Play 60

The NFL has a campaign called "NFL Play 60", the focus is to get kids to be active for 60 minutes a day.  From their website: "Our Mission: To make the next generation of youth the most active and healthy".  They have involved all sorts of big names to enlist kids to get involved in the program, including Michelle Obama and her Let’s Move! campaign, the Cartoon Network, EA Sports (a video game company), and Gatorade, not to mention all sorts of awesome NFL players.

This commercial with Cam Newton makes me laugh every time.

I'm fully on board with this idea.  I think its totally awesome to get kids active, and giving them the opportunity to meet NFL players is a great motivation.

I decided to bring up the campaign here, because I was flipping through my iPad app store and found the NFL Play 60 app.  Its free to download and free to play.  But, its an app!!  Is giving kids an app about being active going to to get them to actually be active?  I don't think so.

I downloaded the app to check it out.  Its a lot like Temple Run, and to their credit, the game does require that you move your device to play.  You are supposed to run in place, tilt the device, jump, and turn quickly around corners.  That said, I played the game for a while from the comfort of my office chair by jiggling my iPad and twisting in my chair.  Here's a shot from my game play, I'm the blond and that's my trainer chasing me.  In real life, getting chased by a man three times my size would most definitely be an excellent motivator.

I understand that today's younger generation is hyper-focused on their phones and computers, and that to reach them a company/campaign/program needs to utilize everything in their power to get in contact with them - so ruling out apps as a communication tool would be counterproductive.  I also see that the NFL tried to get kids active using their phone or tablet, even if their attempt can easily be circumvented.

I wonder if they would have better served the program (and the idea behind it) by creating some sort of kid friendly activity tracking app, with the above game an option in the app.  Letting kids track their activities, and maybe even what they are eating, might be a better way to help them learn about fitness, nutrition, and being active.  I'm not saying I want kids to track their calories or anything crazy, but what if they could see that a little bag of chips takes a lot more exercise time to use up compared to an apple?  Or, what if kids could earn enough coins with this game to buy footballs and other sporting equipment, instead of just an NFL jersey for their game character?

Good work to the NFL for getting kids involved in being active, as I said, I love that idea.  My complaint is this: the best a 35 billion dollar industry can come up with to get kids moving using technology is to give them a game that can be played from a chair.