Long before social media or peer pressure enters the picture, children often mirror the habits of adults closest to them. These attitudes around health that children grow up with tend to influence how they measure self-worth.
AIA is confronting these intergenerational behaviours with the second phase of its 'Rethink Healthy' platform. Developed with BBH Singapore, the latest film, 'Mother & Daughter' (see below) centres on a mother's complicated relationship with food, weight, and her body—and the ways her daughter take on these insecurities.
"Creatively, we have grounded these films in moments people actually recognise: conversations families avoid, pressures we don't always name, and the quiet anxieties that sit beneath surface-level wellness," said Stuart A. Spencer, AIA's group chief marketing officer, in an interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific.
Research across Asia consistently shows that ideas about body image and health are forming earlier. Globally, roughly one in five children and adolescents show signs of disordered eating. In China, a national study found more than a quarter of adolescent girls meet the threshold for probable eating disorders. In Singapore, six in ten young people are regularly exposed to unsolicited body image content through social media algorithms.
The film is part of a second phase of AIA's 'Rethink Healthy' platform. The series comprises of two other films: 'Perfect Son', exploring the mental health toll of achievement culture on men and their families, and 'Lone Wolf', which reframes exercise as something joyful and accessible at any life stage. The first two films were launched in February and March.
The campaign spans AIA's key markets including mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The platform was initially created by Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore in 2024.
"Our new stereotype research has given us really specific areas where we need to shift mindsets in Asia: particularly the bedrock perception that being healthy is only about adhering to rigid physical standards, and the idea that mental health is something to be suppressed and controlled," he explained.
AIA's own research backs this, with its stereotype study (February 2026) finding that 69% of respondents believe fitness requires total discipline with no compromise, and 59% believe that getting healthier demands a complete transformation.
The implication for brands is clear, Spencer said, noting that health messaging that relies on stereotypes as motivational shorthand does not work equally for everyone. The right approach leans on accessible entry points, credible partnerships, and messaging that meets people where they are.
The second phase of 'Rethink Healthy' is a direct response to those findings. Where the 2024 launch was, in Spencer's words, "essentially a manifesto," this iteration goes deeper into consumer behaviour.
"People across Asia want to be healthier, but they're held back by perceptions that being healthy is difficult, expensive, unattainable and unachievable for the average person," Spencer said. "People become disenfranchised and demotivated."
Stuart argued that a brand's positioning built on health and longevity only holds weight if consumers believe good health is something they can actually achieve. "Our data shows that a stereotype can feel validating to people with higher wellbeing but pressure people with lower wellbeing," he said.
He added: "We recognise that if we don't actively help shape mindset and behaviour around health, the consequences for the region and the industry are going to be significant."
The creative process behind the films was rooted in specificity. BBH interviewed people who had shared their personal stories following the platform's initial launch, and took creative inspiration from these true-to-life moments of "profound realisation that the way they see health needs to change."
In a category where purchase decisions are considered, deferred, and even avoided altogether, Spencer is candid about what 'Rethink Healthy' needs to achieve commercially.
"Insurance is not a spontaneous purchase. If you don't change how people feel about the category itself, you don't change behaviour," he observed. Spencer noted that the KPIs he cares about most are attitudinal: shifting how consumers perceive AIA from a reactive payer to a proactive partner, building trust, relevance and salience over time.
The numbers suggest the platform is building momentum. AIA committed to engaging one billion people across Asia to live healthier lives by 2030, and by the end of 2025, it had reached 622 million. Between October 2023 and December 2025, 50% of surveyed individuals said AIA initiatives had inspired healthier choices across physical, mental, financial or environmental wellness.
Still, Spencer remains measured about how long that shift will take. When asked about the timeline for ROI, he said: "In health and insurance, behavioural change happens over time, not overnight. That's the bet we're making with this campaign, and it's one that pays off over time."
