WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME TUNISIA

CASE STUDY SUMMARY

Context:

In Tunisia, food is not just nutrition – it is culture, identity, and a powerful social bond. Against this backdrop, WFP Tunisia briefed us to design a Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) programme to improve eating habits among school-aged children and their families. The ambition was long-term change, not short-term awareness: reshaping everyday food practices in a country facing a double burden of malnutrition, economic pressure, and rapidly evolving lifestyles.  

Problem:

Research revealed that unhealthy eating habits weren’t driven by a lack of knowledge, but by the erosion of shared norms and rituals around food. Children increasingly eat alone, snack freely, and make food choices without guidance. Parents, caught between economic pressure and changing lifestyles, have gradually stepped back from their role as food role models.
Whilst the brief initially identified six nutrition behaviours to address – eating less snacks, less bread, more fruits & vegs, etc. – research showed that tackling them individually would never scale. The issue was deeper: when food rituals disappear, norms disappear with them. The challenge wasn’t just to inform people. It was to change culture.

Strategy:

Rather than addressing behaviours directly, we chose to rebuild the cultural framework that once regulated them. Semiotic and ethnographic research highlighted food’s unique power in Tunisia: a source of love, pride, transmission, and social cohesion.
Our strategy was therefore cultural: use the power of food to re-enchant everyday life and restore shared norms around eating – making healthier and more responsible practices emotionally rewarding, socially visible, and culturally legitimate again.

Creative idea:

To restore shared norms around food, the idea was to revive the family dinner as a central, everyday ritual. Research showed that when family dinners exist, they naturally reset norms at scale – what is eaten, how it is eaten, and who sets the rules. By sitting down together, eating stops being an individual, fragmented activity. Parents reclaim their role as role models, screens disappear from the table, and food regains structure through shared routines rather than imposed guidance. Instead of addressing nutrition behaviours one by one, the creative idea used the family dinner as a cultural anchor – a simple, repeatable moment through which healthier and more responsible eating habits could re-emerge organically.

Creative work:

Television – still the country’s most influential shared medium – became the cornerstone of the intervention. Resetting social norms requires behaviours to be seen, repeated, and perceived as desirable over time, making the sitcom format an ideal vehicle.

The flagship execution was Salla Salla (“Slowly Slowly”), a 16-episode prime-time TV sitcom created with Hatem Bel Haj, the writer behind Tunisia’s most iconic TV series. Through humour and relatable family drama, the show portrayed everyday Tunisian life, using food as a narrative engine rather than a message. Characters evolve gradually – negotiating, failing, and trying again – allowing the family dinner to re-emerge as a shared ritual through routine, rather than instruction.

A supporting ecosystem extended impact beyothe nd the TV screen. Social content, influencers, and school activations helped translate the fiction into real-life behaviours, turning the series into a cultural platform that laid the foundations for long-term change in food culture.

Results:

Salla Salla quickly ranked among Tunisia’s most-watched show. With a paid media budget of under US$ 15K, the campaign reached 41% of Tunisian mothers and generated US$ 2.5M in earned media – over 150 times the initial media investment.

Amongst regular viewers, 33% shared family dinners more often; 11% increased vegetable consumption, 11% replaced street food with homemade snacks and 22% reduced bread consumption. Longitudinal data confirmed sustained improvements in overall diet quality and family meal practices.

Recognition & Awards:

1 Gold, 1 Silver for Best Strategy, Best PR and Best Video at the Anthem Awards (2025).

Salla Salla is now cited as a reference case in Social and Behaviour Change communication, demonstrating how culturally grounded entertainment can drive measurable health outcomes at national scale.

Note:

As Partner and Strategy Director at Ogilvy Consulting Paris, I was responsible for leading the overall strategy of the project, shaping the cultural insights, SBC framework, creative direction and supporting the monitoring & evaluation strategy.