Most people in Singapore enjoy their food but for people afflicted with an eating disorder, eating has become the bane of their lives.

Breaking Mirrors – You’re More Than What You See was an eating disorder prevention campaign, targeted at Singaporean female university students aged 18 to 24. It aimed to reduce the incidence of eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) in Singapore through debunking negative messages such as body dissatisfaction and thin body idealisation. This campaign drew inspiration from the story of a team member, Rashyr, who battled anorexia and bulimia from the age of 15 to 21. Watch her video story below:

Breaking Mirrors – You’re More Than What You See reached out to their target audiences mainly through social media. Roadshows at tertiary institutions (NTU, SIT @ Dover, NUS and SMU) were also organised to spread awareness on their campaign.

The team was grateful for collaborating organisations such as Tailor(ed), who came alongside and supported them with personal stories and campaign publicity. Through the seven stories that were featured on the campaign’s social media and web pages, the team hoped to reach out to girls who are currently suffering from eating disorders as well as inspire them to continue in their recovery journey.

The Highlights

  • The team received positive feedback from eating disorder survivors on an online platform where visitors are welcomed to share their personal stories on how they overcome eating disorders.
  • The team was invited as guest speakers to speak about eating disorders and debunk common misconceptions, on a Mediacorp radio chat segment with Susan Ng from 938Now on 13 March 2018.

  • Watch the other highlights of the campaign below:

The Memories

Encouraging positive thoughts about oneself – what do you like about yourself?
A photo booth pledge towards body positivity in a NTU Roadshow.
Sharing about the campaign.
Writing positive messages that were given out around the campus as a form of encouragement and awareness for the campaign.
A movie (“To The Bone”) screening at SIT @ Dover to increase awareness about eating disorders.

Reflection #1 – The Challenges

Lack of readily available information and research on eating disorders

The team overcame this problem by conducting their own formative research through surveys, focus groups and interviews with medical experts.

The campaign risked releasing content that could have been too “preachy” for the audience or too triggering for those suffering from eating disorders

Since the team was trying to change attitudes and behaviours, they had to ensure the campaign messaging was both appropriate and sensitive. The focus groups that were recruited for the campaign, helped to test and improve communicated messages before its launch.

Reflection #2 – The Takeaways

The project reach was not large enough

More budget for advertising and event publicity could have been invested to ensure larger reach.

More needs to be done to raise awareness for these disorders and to lessen body dissatisfaction among the female population in Singapore

The team received a Facebook message from a girl who was suffering from an eating disorder. The story of this girl was shared on the campaign’s social media page, as she wanted to share her story and support other eating disorder sufferers in their recovery journey.

Gained a deeper understanding of what eating disorder sufferers go through and what often leads to the eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia