If you have children around 3-6 years old in your life, you have probably been impressed with their skills on smartphones and tablets. They navigate this technology with ease that many of us adults haven't mastered. You probably, however, aren't too impressed with their teeth-brushing skills.
Less than half of children in America brush their teeth twice a day, contributing to dental decay being the nation's most common chronic childhood disease.
The Ad Council and the Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives have released a new game that aims to change this. Toothsavers - which is available free on the Web at 2min2x.org/PlayToothsavers and as a downloadable app for iOS and Android (both smartphones and tablets) - makes toothbrushing fun by encouraging kids to save an entire kingdom of characters with the swipe of their toothbrush.
"Mobile technology plays a major role in influencing young people's behavior and is a great fit for this campaign," said Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of the Ad Council. "We're thrilled to release our first mobile game, which represents our ongoing efforts to use technology to promote health, education and well-being. We look forward to using this app to help kids maintain healthy oral health habits, and have fun while doing it!"
Toothsavers is the Ad Council's first mobile app developed in-house, in collaboration with its developer Toboggan. The Ad Council also released one other app last year that was primarily developed by its pro bono agency Gray to help people recognize a stroke.
The app is part of the Ad Council's larger efforts to create new technologies to promote social change. Through campaigns like Smokey Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog and "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk, the Ad Council has worked to improve the lives of all Americans in the areas of education, health, family/community and safety.