MTV SAF
Developing a youth-driven content strategy to increase accurate representations of young people’s reality
Project:
MTV SAF
Location:
USA
Funders:
MTV Staying Alive Foundation
Challenge
Adolescence is a time of social, developmental, and economic transition. Young people are struggling to find answers to their questions about sex, sexuality, and relationships. Particularly among urban youth, differences in race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic level, and immigration status can lead to vastly disparate behavioral and mental health outcomes. While mass media, social media, websites offer limitless content but often fail to deliver accurate and engaging health information to young people.
How can we increase representation in media and make health messaging more relevant and recognizable for young people?
Innovation
YLabs partnered with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation to develop a youth-driven content strategy for a new, transnational campaign launching in South Africa and the United States. YLabs worked with young people across the US to develop characters and storylines that accurately represent their real questions, concerns, and lived realities. This groundbreaking program and dissemination strategy aims to model positive behaviors and meet the demand for health services.
Next Steps
YLabs has completed immersive and participatory research in the San Francisco Bay Area and Atlanta and shared our findings back with our participants. Stay tuned to check out our design research presentation and findings!