Seventies layabout Norm is off the couch and stepping out to help Geelong earn a title as the “Nation’s Healthiest City”.
The cartoon face of the revitalised Life Be In It campaign visited last week to promote the benefits of an active lifestyle.
Norm joined Life Be In It director general Dr Colin Benjamin to address Grovedale Marshall Probus Club members about the campaign’s plan for Geelong.
Life Be In It was “teaming up” with councils and communities around Australia to “mobilise” residents into using local parks and recreation reserves, Dr Benjamin said.
The organisation was working with City Hall and the region’s councils alliance body G21 to get the message across, he told the Probus members.
“We aim to get the City of Greater Geelong and the G21 communities to join in this program to become the Nation’s Healthiest City by 2020 and (for) Australia to be on the road to becoming The World’s Healthiest Nation.”
Dr Benjamin said Life Be In It would work with the region’s five mayors to launch a JobsNOW program to fight chronic disease.
The connection between employment and physical activity was that “having a job keeps us off the couch”, he said.
“We can cut the potential cost of ill-health by more than $3 billion a year (nationally) and have everyone enjoying a longer and more satisfying life in their own homes, cutting the number of sickies through worthwhile work and being able to be active volunteers and members of organisations like Probus.”
Launched in 1975, Life Be In It featured Norm as a lazy cartoon Aussie in a series of advertising campaigns.
The campaign eventually faded from prominence but has resumed with a renewed emphasis on obesity and the health risks of sitting for long periods.
