Monkeystack were engaged by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service to produce an impactful VR experience to accompany their health and wellbeing campaign, ‘Boorais and Smoke Don’t Mix’ (Boorais meaning babies or children), dedicated to their vision of a community free from the harmful effects of smoking.
We delivered the 10-minute animated, interactive VR journey as an app available to be downloaded from the store and experienced on a smart phone contained in a fold-out cardboard viewing headset, allowing for easy accessibility and distribution.
Working with the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service team, we formed a narrative designed to connect to young people with voices and visual images that are familiar to them and that they respect. As soon as they begin the experience they are taken on virtual Country, ‘removing’ them from whatever physical location and surroundings they are in.
Knowledge is shared through progressive stages of the experience by ‘Auntie Julie’, an elder who guides the user throughout the journey, and the people from the community the user engages with, listening as they share their lived experience stories of how nicotine effects the body, as well as its negative impacts on loved ones and community at large.
A brief questionnaire presented before and after the experience asks the user their opinions and knowledge of smoking, providing insight on any knowledge shift and prompting the young person to reflect and bring their new knowledge home.