Hip Hop Public Health, a group that provides nutrition education for Black communities, launched a unique campaign to address the lack of access to healthy foods experienced by many Black consumers. Lil Sugar, created with IPG Health agency Area 23, is a seemingly adorable character with an insidious agenda to hide on packaged foods’ nutrition labels that many lack the language to evaluate.
Voiced by Run-DMC vocalist Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Lil Sugar stars in Hip Hop Public Health’s campaign featuring an animated music video, a storybook and a mobile video game. The music video ran in movie theaters, targeted digital media, on taxicabs and at community events for students. The campaign won gold for Integrated Campaign of the Year among advocacy organizations in the Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards 2023.