Let’s Move! Good Morning America

by Amanda Peth

In February 2013, Michelle Obama appeared on Good Morning America, to celebrate the third anniversary of her Let’s Move! Campaign and promote new features of the successful campaign. Mrs. Obama explains that back in 2010 at the launch, many people were unaware of America’s crisis with child obesity, however, just in a couple of years, there has already been a decrease in the rates of obesity.  In fact, during this interview, Mrs.Obama announces a new program that connects the government nutrition guide My Plate with media companies such as Pinterest to compile healthy recipes that comply with the My Plate nutrition standards. (see http://www.pinterest.com/MyPlateRecipes/)

Later on in the show, Mrs. Obama actually demonstrates the My Plate recipes as she assists fellow Good Morning America hosts’ in cooking an approved meal. (see Cooking with The First Lady, Michelle Obama video below) In doing this, Mrs.Obama shows the viewers that she is understanding of the challenge of creating a healthy meals. She also reveals tricks and tips on how to create healthier meals. Furthermore, in this interview setting, Mrs.Obama is able to create awareness of the obesity problem as well as promote the Let’s Move! campaign and a healthy lifestyle. This one-on-one interview style creates a friendly, unintimidating environment, which is reflected in the way Michelle Obama and the hosts joyously interact. This environment and interaction establishes Michelle Obama as a friendly and relatable household figure to the the viewers.

Mrs. Obama’s interview on Good Morning America showcased many different aspects of the Let’s Move! campaign to the target audience through the uses and gratification theory. This theory exercises purposeful placement of information on media outlets that the target audience is most likely to consume. This is an essential aspect of public relations because information is only useful if the right stakeholder group receives it. For instance, the campaign is concerned for children’s health, so it would useless to have an interview on MTV which targets teenagers and young adults. Rather, in this campaign, the target audience of the campaign are adults with young children. According to The New York Times, in 2012-13 television season Good Morning America has an average 5.3 million viewers on typical weekday, making it the leader amongst all morning talk shows. More specifically, for the target demographic of this campaign, Good Morning America proves to be the frontrunner with 2 million viewers in the age bracket 25-54 . Through the uses and gratifications theory, adults with young children in the age bracket of 25-54 are actively choosing to watch Good Morning America because it gratifies r one or more of the following needs: information, interaction, entertainment and personal identity. More specifically, the interview on Good Morning America satisfies primarily both the need for information and entertainment. Information is conveyed by Mrs.Obama briefing the audience with facts about the Let’s Move! campaign. The entertainment need is satisfied by the intimate interview setting and the playful interaction during the cooking segment. Parents can enjoy the entertainment aspect of the show, while also receiving valuable information. With this is mind, appearing on Good Morning America was the perfect platform for Michelle Obama because she was able to reach a vast amount and diverse range of her target audience. This also spread the word to other Good Morning America viewers outside of their target audience who may relay the information about the campaign to others.

Overall, the interview and cooking segment on Good Morning America was a purposeful and strategic public relations tactic for the Let’s Move! campaign. Michelle Obama was able to reach an enormous amount of the target audience in an efficient manner. In doing so, she created more awareness and promotion of the campaign as well as communicate the urgency of the obesity crisis in America. Through the uses and gratification public relations theory, Michelle Obama shed positive light not only on the issue of the campaign, but also created a positive relationship between herself and the target audience.