unhealth talk: speak smarter. feel better.
unHealth Talk is a social marketing intervention to improve body image among female undergraduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Body image disturbance is an issue of concern at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the nation’s leading science and technology research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2012, the Office for Community Wellness contracted Leah Berkenwald to develop an original, campus-wide social marketing campaign to reduce body image dissatisfaction that spoke to the unique experience of undergraduate women at MIT.
Formative research with female undergraduate students revealed an MIT-specific brand of self-disparaging talk, or “unHealth Talk,” reflecting the complex manner by which stress, studying, perfectionism, health concerns, and stereotypes about women at MIT affect body image disturbance among the target population. This intervention aims to persuade female students at MIT to replace disparaging unHealth Talk with empowering “health talk” in order to reduce body image disturbance and improve their general well-being.
Body image disturbance is an issue of concern at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the nation’s leading science and technology research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2012, the Office for Community Wellness contracted Leah Berkenwald to develop an original, campus-wide social marketing campaign to reduce body image dissatisfaction that spoke to the unique experience of undergraduate women at MIT.
Formative research with female undergraduate students revealed an MIT-specific brand of self-disparaging talk, or “unHealth Talk,” reflecting the complex manner by which stress, studying, perfectionism, health concerns, and stereotypes about women at MIT affect body image disturbance among the target population. This intervention aims to persuade female students at MIT to replace disparaging unHealth Talk with empowering “health talk” in order to reduce body image disturbance and improve their general well-being.
