Food, Culture, and Semiotics: A Behavioural Approach to Enhancing Nutrition Practices in Bangladesh
Client: Ogilvy and WFP
Duration: 18 months
Services provided: Formative Research, M&E
Thematic Area: Nutrition
The Challenge
Malnutrition in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, malnutrition is a stubborn crisis. Despite rising awareness, the country continues to face a triple burden: undernutrition, growing obesity, and widespread micronutrient deficiency. And while fortified rice and healthy diets have the potential to shift this reality, behavioural barriers persist.
Why Social and Behaviour Change?
Because food behaviours are deeply emotional, culturally coded, and socially reinforced, traditional awareness campaigns — focused on nutrition facts — fail to speak to the identity, power dynamics, and aspiration that truly drive food choices. WFP, in partnership with Ogilvy, needed a nationwide SBC strategy to address these hidden drivers and help communities — including Rohingya refugees — improve their nutrition practices in sustainable, dignified ways.
Methodology
The research process included:
Preliminary review of existing insights and stakeholder consultations
Formative data collection, including:
20 focus group discussions and 24 in-depth interviews with caregivers
17 key informant interviews with community leaders and health workers
A 450-household survey
A semiotic and cultural study led by Ogilvy in partnership with Visual Signo, uncovering the hidden cultural codes behind food choices and meanings
Key Behavioural Insights that Shaped the Strategy
Food as culture, rather than nourishment
The semiotic analysis revealed that in Bangladesh, food is experienced not just as nourishment but as a site of moral value, spiritual practice, aesthetic expression, and social identity. Colour emerged as a key semiotic cue: vibrant tones in food, packaging, and markets signal abundance, trust, and pleasure. This contrasts with NGO nutrition messaging which often relies on neutral, medicalised designs that feel distant. Crucially, the research showed that SBC that ignores these cultural logics risks lack of engagement and superficial uptake. Working with these narratives builds emotional resonance, trust, and sustained behaviour change.
The semiotic research conducted by Visual Signo revealed four deep cultural narratives that shape how food is understood. Together, they served as the foundation to Ogilvy’s “Keep Going” campaign which includes the four nutrition message frames below:
