NSF Intl. announced that the Scrub Club (www.scrubclub.org) is a finalist for the prestigious platinum award from PR News. PR News will announce the winners of the platinum PR Awards on Oct. 2 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City.
The Scrub Club is a fun, animated and interactive website that teaches children the proper way to wash their hands. Each of the Scrub Club “soaper-heroes” represents one of the six steps in the handwashing process: "Hot Shot" and "ChilP.T.l" combine to make warm water essential for proper handwashing; "Squeaks" turns into various forms of soap; "Taki" becomes a clock that counts down the required 20 seconds for proper handwashing; "Scruff" reminds kids to clean around their nails; "Tank" turns into a sink to rinse away the germs; and "P.T." transforms into paper towels.
The Scrub Club “soaper-heroes” have made appearances on Good Morning America, NPR’s Morning Edition, The New York Times, Associated Press, Scholastic for Kids, NEA Today and many more for a total of more than 150 million media impressions.
The free website includes activities for kids, educational materials (in French, Spanish and English) for teachers, as well as information for parents. Interactive games "Stop Fluin' Around" and "Big E's Grossest Hits" teach kids how to protect themselves from Influenza and E. coli.
The cornerstone of the website is a "Webisode" or cartoon featuring the Scrub Club as they join forces to fight off harmful germs and bacteria, teaching children the proper way to wash their hands along the way. The first Webisode, "The Good, the BAC, and the Ugly," finds the Scrub Club battling the loathsome but loveable character BAC (from the Partnership for Food Safety Education's Fight BAC! public education campaign), and one of his partners in "grime" Sal Monella in a wild-west themed adventure.
“Developing and supporting the Scrub Club has been a truly rewarding experience for NSF,” said William Fisher, vice president for NSF Intl. “We are honored to support a program so true to our mission—to improve and protect public health. And we couldn’t have done it without our partners.”
The Partnership for Food Safety Education and the American Red Cross partnered with NSF Intl. on the Scrub Club.
The Scrub Club was designed with the help of OLSON (www.oco.com), a Minneapolis-based advertising agency, to educate children on the importance of proper handwashing, while maintaining a fun and interactive platform for learning.
Source: NSF International
