03-08-2008, 12:00 AM
MAGNUS SCHEVING
AS
SPORTACUS!
"Young fans of the show happily eat apples and carrots - which Sportacus calls "sports candy" - because it will make them strong and agile. One of LazyTown's public health campaigns resulted in the amount of vegetables consumed rising by 22 per cent in a month.
The Icelandic Surgeon General credits LazyTown with halting the rise in childhood obesity for the first time in 10 years.
The man behind Sportacus is world-class athlete, writer and motivational speaker Magnus Scheving, who has already packed dozens of careers into his 42 years. A father of three who employs 163 of the 307,261 people in Iceland, Scheving is making a flying visit to Australia this week for talks with licensing company Gaffney and the Australian carrier of his show, Nickelodeon.
"I am like a man on a mission," he says. "I have never been driven by money. I understand what kids love. I understand that kids love detail. When they are four years old they understand every detail right down to the glitter on a headband. What is missing in most kids TV is that it is too simple and formulaic. When experts step in they boil it down into categories - for boys and for girls. Why can't it be for both? Why can't it be for boys and girls and their grandmothers?"
A former European aerobics champion, Scheving is the creator and chief executive of global entertainment and marketing company LazyTown Entertainment. It began as a book..."
Magnus Scheving: Sportacus
AS
SPORTACUS!
"Young fans of the show happily eat apples and carrots - which Sportacus calls "sports candy" - because it will make them strong and agile. One of LazyTown's public health campaigns resulted in the amount of vegetables consumed rising by 22 per cent in a month.
The Icelandic Surgeon General credits LazyTown with halting the rise in childhood obesity for the first time in 10 years.
The man behind Sportacus is world-class athlete, writer and motivational speaker Magnus Scheving, who has already packed dozens of careers into his 42 years. A father of three who employs 163 of the 307,261 people in Iceland, Scheving is making a flying visit to Australia this week for talks with licensing company Gaffney and the Australian carrier of his show, Nickelodeon.
"I am like a man on a mission," he says. "I have never been driven by money. I understand what kids love. I understand that kids love detail. When they are four years old they understand every detail right down to the glitter on a headband. What is missing in most kids TV is that it is too simple and formulaic. When experts step in they boil it down into categories - for boys and for girls. Why can't it be for both? Why can't it be for boys and girls and their grandmothers?"
A former European aerobics champion, Scheving is the creator and chief executive of global entertainment and marketing company LazyTown Entertainment. It began as a book..."
Magnus Scheving: Sportacus