KitKats, gotta love em. Each bar consists of fingers composed of three layers of crème-filled wafer, covered in an outer layer of chocolate. Each finger can be snapped from the bar one at a time. It is not just a chocolate bar; it is a way of living. Who did not ‘have a break’ eating a KitKat?
Apparently the orangutans in the rainforests of Indonesia are not that fond of the chocolate treats. Greenpeace holds Nestlé – the producer of KitKat - responsible for destroying rainforests to get cheap palm oil, a key ingredient of the chocolate bar. The rainforests are also the natural habitat of the orangutan and having a break while your own home is destructed is pretty difficult.
Today Greenpeace released a commercial in the typical KitKat style in order to raise awareness among the consumers of KitKat and to ask them to give the orangutan his well deserved break. It is a pretty in-your-face video in which the chocolate fingers of the KitKat turn out to be the fingers of the orangutan and the crème-filling is its blood. Bon appétit!
In general I am not a fan of the use of shock advertising in the social sector, because it seems to have lost its effect a long time ago. In this case I do like the video, because the message is not only direct, but it also takes away your appetite. The association of the orangutan’s hairy and bloody finger with this chocolate bar will make me think twice when I need a break.
Besides that the video’s direct style fits an organization like Greenpeace and the fact that it is a spoof on a KitKat commercial gives it an interesting mix of humor and seriousness.
Don’t just give the orangutan a break, but stop Nestlé from destroying rainforests for palm oil. You can read more and take action by clicking here.
Update 19.30u: It seems the campaign has certain effect and the PR machine of Nestlé started to work as well. This afternoon they released a press message stating:
“Nestlé has replaced the Indonesian company Sinar Mas as a supplier of palm oil with another supplier for further shipments. We confirm that Nestlé has only bought from Sinar Mas for manufacturing in Indonesia, and no palm oil bought from Sinar Mas has been used by Nestlé for manufacturing in any other country. We have also joined other major purchasers of palm oil in making sure that companies, such as Cargill, understand our demands for palm oil which is not sourced from suppliers which destroy rainforests.”
YouTube deleted the video after complaints of Nestlé and has now been uploaded to Vimeo. Greenpeace continues its actions, because according to them Nestlé only stopped working with small suppliers of palm oil. To be continued.
This ad, published in September 2009, is from ENPA (Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali), the Italian national board for the protection of animals. It is about animal testing for cosmetic products.
The aim of the campaign is raising funds to build a rehab center for the animals that survived the tests.
“Help us to cure the victims of cosmetic tests. Send a sms to 48585 to give 1 euro and to contribute creating a rehab center.”
UIPA, a non-profit organization helping animals in Brazil, selected 10 dogs and created their Facebook profiles, on the hopes that having many virtual friends would increase their chance of having a real friend.
The profiles are managed by employees of ad agency Fischer, that engage on a fun and meaningful way, letting their Facebook friends know why it’s important to find a home for these animals and how to help.
A poster was also created, with a “Owner wanted” message, distributed on over 50 places in São Paulo.
Even if it’s great to see examples of non-profits using Facebook, i wouldn’t advise doing this campaign, as it goes against Facebook Terms Of Service. For more about Facebook and non-profits, you can check Inside Facebook’s latest post.
IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, came today with an iPhone app: Manimal! The app transforms people’s faces into animals.
Which animal are you? And your friends? You’ll know with a couple of simple steps: take a photo, align the eyes and mouth, and Manimal! morphes the portrait into a rhino. Or a buffalo. Or a fat pig! But keeping your facial features. The hilarious transformed photo can easily be posted on social networks or shared via e-mail. But the photo can also be assigned to a contact in the address book.
This app is not just fun, it also aims to improve awareness that man and animal need each other in this world. The revenues go to IFAW thus raising both funds and IFAW supporters in a new way.
The app is available in the iTunes app store.
Dutch agency RAPP created the concept of the Manimal! app. Sharewire was responsible for the technical realization of the app.
Three retro movie style posters for UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) / CMS (Conservation of Migratory Species).
“Alle zwölf Minuten wird eine Tierart ausgerottet. Unterstützen Sie uns im Kampf gegen das Artensterben.”
“Every twelve minutes one species is extinct. Support us in the fight against biodiversity loss.”
Beautiful motion video from Kris Hofmann which is remake for the German animal rights organisation Albert Schweitzer Stiftung.
Kris Hofmann: “A few years ago we took 7 year old Jessica fishing. When she caught a fish I tried to take it from her so that I could kill it and cook it for dinner. She started to scream, totally outraged by the thought of eating this beautiful creature. We threw the fish back into the lake and instead went to a local supermarket to buy food. ....Jessica chose fish fingers.”
The video entitled Frühstück (Breakfast) was inspired by this lost connection between the food we eat and the animals we love.
The voice-over is from Alexander Hacke, the lead singer from the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. Alexander Hacke is also vegetarian.
I’m not translating the text, it’s obvious what this is about.
Thanksgiving can be the scariest time of year if you’re a turkey. More than 45 million of these birds are killed to disgrace Thanksgiving tables each year. This Thanksgiving, one honest little girl tells it like it really is - for turkeys - when she is asked to say grace around her family’s dinner table.
Revolution! PETA ads without sexism or nudity.
But the communication strategy is still succesful, the PSA is banned by NBC. Always good for rumour around the brand.
On the back of their last acclaimed campaignsAnimals Australia has just launched it’s first ever TV commercial. Airing across Australia right now, this ad is the first of its kind to speak up for pigs trapped in factory farms. Drawing the connection between the plastic wrapped pork and ham on supermarket shelves and the misery that goes on behing closed doors. The ad will continue to run for as long as public support can keep it on air.
Yes the pandas are cute but the WWF is doing more.
“Saving pandas is not our only mission. The combined efforts of WWF and our partners have sparked the recovery of the Tibetan Antelope Population. Take a closer look at what we do and where you can make a difference.”
October 4 is World Animal Day. And this year October 5 is Forgotten Animals Day in The Netherlands.
The Dutch Dierenbescherming (foundation for protecting animals) is asking attention for animals who are forgotten on World Animal Day. The voice over is Dutch spoken but it’s clear what this is all about.
Great new video for the World Wildlife Fund animated by Celine Desrumaux and Yann Benedi. One action can make a chain reaction.
“Ever wondered to yourself ‘What can I do...?’ You’re not alone! We all have more power than we think - especially if we act together. Your actions can make all the difference - you could be the decisive link in a chain that has impacts across the world.” WWF
Is it right for England to take a backward step for chicken welfare, to come in line with EU legislation?
That is what the RSPCA is asking.
Even though they’re intensively farmed, the UK currently has some of the best standards for keeping ‘broiler’ (meat) chickens. However, with the new EU legislation even more chickens will be crammed in to tiny sheds. It’s a backwards step for animal welfare in the UK that the RSPCA want to stop from happening.
The Good Agency created the video to show people what it’s like to live with no concept of personal space. It was a way to reach an otherwise-indifferent audience and bring the issue to life. The agency devised the overriding campaign name Quash the Squash and from this came the stunt. “Irritating Chicken” spent the day in central London invading people’s personal space getting people to think about what it is like being squashed into a chicken shed.
The ten finalists are announced at Animal Spot, the award festival showing advertising campaigns on and with animals. The event will be held in Rome on the 9th of July at Casa del Cinema (Villa Borghese).
I show you the four non-profit finalist at this post.
The first spot (above) is the most surprising one, mainly because of the music. It’s for reciclatorii.ro, the Romanian ongoing awareness campaign about recycling.
“Stop cutting trees. Recycle paper.”
Agency: Odyssey, Bucharest
The March 18 Movement was born out of a tragedy. On this day in 2009, Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger and journalist, died in Evin Prison in Tehran. The December before his death, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Omid Reza was the first blogger to die in prison and his death reveals that getting censored is far from the worst thing that can happen to a blogger.
The March 18 Movement aims not only to make sure that Omid Reza is remembered, but also that other persecuted bloggers around the world do not disappear into interrogation rooms and prison cells. The March 18 Movement would like to become a voice for bloggers everywhere who are in risk of being crushed under the heavy machinery of repression.
“Let the first blogger to die in prison be the last.”
The Ask Yourself campaign from Dropping Knowledge is a series of over 100 digital postcards which promote dialogue on social themes of global significance. Answers can be added as comments by clicking on the postcards and each card can be shared through dragging and dropping into emails. Registered users are encouraged to pose questions as well. See more below.
Q&A at its best: participatory, provocative and pertinent.
PETA style! To promote the new campaign of Dutch non-profit organization ‘Animals Awake’, Dutch creative production house created a viral campaign that caused quite a stir. Ancilla Tilia, well known festish model, Playmate and elected Most Sexy Vegetarian, promised to strip down naked for the good cause on Monday 22 June. The show was announced on a lot of blogs, radioshows, Facebook, Twitter and online magazines.
At said time, a sexy stripshow started, where Ancilla seductively started taking off her clothes. Untill a man in fishermans clothing (played by a wellknown Dutch comedian), stepped out from the audience, knocked her down with a big hook and started to ‘stripping her alive’. With this campaign, Animals Awake wants to raise awareness that millions of fish are being skinned and stripped from their organs while still alive, while its proven that fish can feel distress and even pain.
The website was visited over 50,000 times in the first days and the film was downloaded over 10,000 times in the first few hours.
Holiday season is coming nearby. And every year many dogs are tied up somewhere for various bad reasons.
Not only dogs are the seasonal victims, also rabbits, kittens and turtles.
The Dutch pet information organisation Dierz did a guerilla campaign today in Amsterdam to show this cruelty. Dogs made of paperboard are tied up at various places in the city. This confrontating action gets a lot of media attention.
The badge at the necklaces points readers to the Dierz website with a lot of information how to avoid the seasonal cruelty.
Three items from a billboard and magazine print campaign encouraging the adoption of dogs as pets. The campaign is from BETA, Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
People living in the Achrafieh area in Beirut must saw these billboards.
See Hoisel’s CG gallery for behind-the-scenes work on the campaign.
Finally an ad from PETA about vegetarianism without nudity!.
Famous actress Cloris Leachman, 82 years of age, wants you to know that it’s easy to choose vegetarian alternatives. “Start learning about it. It doesn’t have to be all of a sudden or a great huge education, but it’s sort of a little journey that you make all your life.” This is a journey that will lead you in one direction: to better health, a cleaner environment, and happier animals everywhere.
On fur farms, they are often killed with gas, electrocution or poison, or their necks are broken. These methods are not 100 per cent effective, and some animals “wake up” while being skinned.
But this duo won’t take it lying down. Watch as one loveable alligator and one feisty rabbit confront the fashion victims who stole their skins in “Stolen for Fashion”, featuring the voices of Ricky Gervais and Pink in this video for PETA UK.
In this video from IFAW Germany (International Fund for Animal Welfare), an elephant comes in for a landing in the style of a jumbo jet. IFAW is making the point that travelers should think twice before purchasing souvenirs made from animal products.
Very nice campaign from Canada for the Alberta Wilderness Association: Save the Grizzly. Habitat loss has endagered Alberta’s Grizzlies.
The association approached agency Calder Bateman for help in encouraging government leaders to take steps to prevent habitat loss that is endangering Alberta’s Grizzlies (less than 500 remain in the province). Through a guerilla campaign that include posters, new media, special events, a stunt man in a bear suit, and a friendly protest on parliament, there was extensive media response.
Three ads from IndyAct against animal slaughter for the fashion industry.
IndyAct have its roots in Lebanon and this new campaign targets consumers in the Gulf and Middle East.
Hi! We are Judith and Gertjan, a Dutch couple with an open heart and mind for the people of South Asia. In 2010 we will move with our two kids towards South Asia to work as volunteers. Judith is a nurse with a medical management qualification and will be involved in a medical training program. Gertjan is an entrepeneur and will start an education program and an IT business. Our Christian faith is an important motive for us in doing this kind of work.
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Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.