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Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls. (National Bone Health Campaign)

Also: National Bone Health Campaign

Federal campaign encouraging girls aged 9 to 14 to build strong bones through calcium and weight-bearing activity. Concept research found that strength (confidence as well as physical strength) was the benefit girls cared about, which became the theme, and girls' wish for 'a girl like me' produced the cartoon spokes-character Carla.

Years
1999–now
Country
United States
Topic
NutritionPhysical activity
Asks people to
Start
Strategy
MascotSelf efficacy
Channel
PrintWebsite
Audience
ParentsYouth
Girls aged 9 to 14 and their parents

Evidence

NoneUnknown

No outcome data in the Pink Book. Its account (p. 80): concept research with girls 9-12 identified strength as the key benefit; the theme tested as motivating; a website pretest drew descriptions such as 'powerful' and 'fun'.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Federal government
  • HHS Office on Women's Health Federal government
  • National Osteoporosis Foundation NGO, partner

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Sources

  1. National Cancer Institute. Making Health Communication Programs Work ("Pink Book"), revised edition, 2002, p. 80 reference · 2002
  2. National Bone Health Campaign (archived CDC page, 2004) sponsor

Research notes

Created 2026-10-23 from a full reading of the Pink Book (docs/pink-book.md, issue #43). Page numbers are the book's printed pages. The Pink Book does not name the sponsor; CDC, the Office on Women's Health and the National Osteoporosis Foundation are from an archived CDC page seen in search results (not opened). Start year 1999 is from secondary sources (Wikipedia); check against an HHS record.

Record cases/powerful-bones-powerful-girls.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign