Vending Machine with an attitude!

From a blogpost by Joan Blake:

'The LiVe Vending Machine, which is the brainchild of Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, is a full-sized, vending machine that doesn’t take money or even dispense snack foods. Rather, it is a talking vending machine, full of fake foods, which dispenses humorous messages about the healthy qualities, or lack thereof, of the food chosen when you push the corresponding button. The back talk from this sassy machine is intended to educate Utah middle school and high school students about healthy food choices and positive lifestyle changes in a light-hearted fashion. It is part of a larger, community-based program. The machine has been test marketed in Utah schools and is wildly popular with both the students and parents.

“Our goal with the LiVe campaign is to approach this important issue from a child’s point of view and offer positive, helpful solutions for families. LiVe can help children be more physically active and make more healthy food choices,” according to Dr. Tamara Sheffield, LiVe’s medical director of Community Health and Prevention.

Here’s a sample of some of the messages coming from the machine:

If you pressed the button under the fake potato chips, you would hear:
“Potatoes come from Idaho; potato chips come from the deep fat fryer.”

If you press on the phony candy bar button, you would hear:
“How about you run to the grocery store and pick up some fresh fruit or somethin’? You could use a healthy snack and the run wouldn’t hurt either.”