Changing the Narrative: Storytelling as a Tool to Shift Power and Behaviour

Boys in Growth: A Sankofa Story is a participatory multimedia project that uses scripted storytelling and documentary film to explore how adolescent boys in Ghana perceive and perform masculinity, emotion, and health. Rooted in the West African concept of Sankofa, "go back and fetch it", the project invites boys to reflect on their past experiences and reimagine their futures through film. Over a three-day workshop, participants co-create short scripted scenes based on real challenges surrounding boys' mental health, peer pressure, and self-efficacy. These scenes are filmed, edited, and followed by a community viewing that culminates in open dialogue. Alongside the scripted component, a documentary captures the behind-the-scenes process, recording pre- and post-interviews to track shifts in the boys' perspectives on masculinity and well-being.
This multimedia format transforms traditional health education into an interactive, youth-led storytelling experience. The panel presentation will feature a seven-minute cut of the film that integrates excerpts from the scripted scenes and the reflective documentary. The discussion will contextualize the film's design through the COM-B behavioral model, illustrating how creative media can strengthen capability, opportunity, and motivation for health behavior change among young men.

In South Africa, children are relentlessly targeted by Big Food companies through sophisticated marketing strategies that normalise the consumption of unhealthy products. The Big Food Is Not Telling Us the Whole Truth campaign was developed to shift this narrative by fostering solidarity and collective action through storytelling, advocacy, and collaboration.
Grounded in the principle that change is co-created, the campaign elevated the voices of health advocates to expose the hidden tactics of Big Food. Using multimedia storytelling, it brought to life the everyday realities of how communities are impacted, building public trust by reflecting lived experience. Partnerships with civil society transformed evidence into compelling narratives that mobilised dialogue, accountability, and policy advocacy; with an urgent call to action for the implementation of Front-of-Package Warning Labels (FoPWL) on unhealthy packaged foods.
At the centre of the campaign were powerful 50" and 20" TV and 45" radio advertisements, supported by a digital campaign, exposing how the food industry uses bright packaging and misleading claims to promote products high in sugar, salt, and saturated fat. These practices fuel rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Inspired by the BBC documentary Irresistible: Why We Can't Stop Eating by Dr. Chris van Tulleken, the advertisement followed a fictional former food industry executive revealing how ultra-processed foods are engineered to be addictive and aggressively marketed to children. Big Food Is Not Telling Us the Whole Truth shows that SBCC is most powerful when it prioritises solidarity over top-down messaging.