Get Fruved: Government Spends $4.8 Million To Get Students To Dress Up Like Fruit

The government has decided to spend $4.8 million on a “Get Fruved” campaign. In perhaps the biggest government waste program of the year, student get dressed up as fruit and tell pals and passersby to Get Fruved in order to encourage healthy eating.

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville will receive nearly $5 million in taxpayer funds to crate the healthy eating campaign and corresponding fruit and vegetable costumes. Once the coeds are properly adorned, they will cavort around the campus telling everyone insight to Get Fruved – eat FRUits and VEgetables. The campaign is being made possible by a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant. Backlash over the use of taxpayer funds for such a purpose is already roaring online. Posters are angry that they are experiencing higher insurance premiums and soldiers losing housing discounts, commissary funds, and undergoing a pay raise cut while fruit and vegetable costumes are being crafted.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack had this to say about the Get Fruved grant and healthy eating program:

“These grants fund critical research that will help USDA and our partners implement effective strategies to support America’s next generation so they can have a healthy childhood and develop healthy habits for life.”

Republicans, Libertarians, and Tea Party members are not surprisingly upset about the USDA program many are deeming nothing but more government waste. After a thorough search of the Constitution, not a single phrase of text can be found eluding to eating habits being in need of government oversight.

The Fruved website describes the healthy eating program as a:

“Non-diet approach to weight management and does not promote a special diet to manage weight. Students will address behaviors include healthy eating, physical activity, managing stress, emotional well-being, and maintaining positive social systems. The campaign includes social media, a study website, and online educational initiatives.”

Get Fruved campaign events and games center around five specific characters, spinach, a grape, a carrot, a banana, and a tomato. Videos on the Get Fruved website show students dancing in their fruit and vegetable costumes, approaching their peers, and saying, “Get Fruved! Eat healthy, okay?”

The Fruved website also noted that the program will begin on the college campuses, but will soon expand:

“Ultimately the project will continue with high school students working with middle school students to develop and implement the project on middle school campuses and then middle school students working with elementary students to develop and implement the project in elementary schools.”

Tufts University in Boston will receive $149,988 to research “kids-only” coupons for healthy snacks that is being called the CHOMPS Pilot Project. Winston-Salem State University will received $150,000 for an anti-obesity project designed for 10-to-12-years-olds in low-income families.

What do you think of the Get Fruved campaign?