Shrek, Dreamworks Animations' (NYSE:DWA) billion-dollar baby, has taken on another job in addition to shilling for McDonald's Happy Meals (NYSE:MCD) -- encouraging America's kids to play off that French-fry tire.

The green meanie with a heart of gold and his cohorts are featured in the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Service's Smallstep program, aimed at getting children to engage in active play at least an hour a day. His image and the slogan, "Be a player," will be showing up in multiple venues, including as online, billboards and television ads. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the department has received over $270 million in comp ad placements already.

I can't help but think that the rollout of this program, shortly in advance of the release of Shrek 3 on May 18th, is no coincidence, but a nifty piece of cross-marketing. It helps compensate for the character's pitches for products such as Pepsi and McDonald's Happy Meals, under attack by those concerned about our nation's health.

In fact, I'd suggest expanding the program. When the movie opens, how about requiring that viewers park a few blocks from the theater and walk the rest of the way?