Fighting obesity just a walk in the parking lot

So you always thought the best parking spot was in the front row?

Well, an experimental program in Minnesota wants you to move back to see if a stroll in the parking lot will help fight obesity.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, the state’s largest health insurer, is taking outlier parking spaces at shopping malls to encourage people to sneak in a few extra footsteps on the way inside. The idea is to remind shoppers that small behavior changes can have a big health impact in fighting an epidemic of obesity that cuts short lives and weighs down the health care system.

“If you talk to anybody who at one point was inactive, you find they started making one little change — they took the steps up one flight at work instead of the elevator ... or they started carrying in their groceries one bag at a time,” said Dr. Marc Manley, chief prevention officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. “Pretty soon they were doing a lot more physical activity.”

For the campaign, Blue Cross is spraying remote parking spaces with a message: “Today is the day we burn calories by parking here.”

The promotion is part of the organization’s “do” campaign, which began in 2005 as a workplace effort to get Blue Cross members to take the stairs. The promotion has expanded into a broader effort focused on community health, Manley said.

To promote better health, experts recommend 30 minutes of daily exercise, which can be broken into five- or 10-minute chunks.

Barbara Loken, a University of Minnesota marketing professor and expert in consumer psychology, said the Blue Cross tactics can be effective.

“The use of color and simple explanations help people trigger certain thoughts that, ‘Yes, this is relevant. This is important to me in my life,’” she said. “Even if they don’t actually use the space, it increases awareness that the number of steps you take going into the mall is important for your physical health.”