Find your counterpart

Who is the influencer in a pet - human relationship? Three nice PSA’s with this question from the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.
The goal is to encourage 1,000 more pet adoptions by October 31, 2010 to help the Humane Society of Boulder Valley win the ASPCA Save More Lives Challenge.

John Cleese at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Free Range Studios teamed up with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and John Cleese to bring a smile to your face.

‘Battery Milk’ campaign

Have a look at this new social-media-based campaign from WSPA. It’s protesting against the new ‘super-dairy’ being planned here in the UK. Interestingly they are trying to create a new terminology – such as ‘factory milk’ and ‘battery cows’. Do you think it works? Will these new terms enter the language and change the way people think about cows and milk in the same way they’ve done for chickens and eggs? And what do you think about the approach – can social media campaigns work without a compelling piece of content to share?

Monkeying with our emotions

Copyranter put me on to this disturbing video, which won a “Film Craft” gold lion at last week’s Cannes Advertising Festival:

“Your peace of mind starts with his” is a nice message to mainstream empathy towards lab animals, and the nightmarish animation puts us in the skin of an unfortunate test primate — then rips us right out of it.

I’m not sure it would work as well with a rat or a bunny, but the family resemblance between ourselves and chimps sure drives home the psychological horrors of being bound, prodded and vivisected.

Blood against proposed lifting of the whaling ban

A ban against whaling has been in place for the past 24 years, dramatically reducing the numbers of whales killed. However, today in Agadir, Morocco the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will begin the process of voting on whether to lift the ban and potentially open the floodgates to whaling across the globe once again.

To raise awareness of this the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society created this graphic film which featured model, Alice Dellal, narration from actor Christopher Eccleston and music from The Horrors.
The aim of the protest is to directly challenge the proposed lifting of the whaling ban and potentially save thousands of whales from being needlessly slaughtered in the future.

Each e-protest will be sent directly to the most high profile supporters in favour of the plan to lift the ban, which include Barack Obama and the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Lady needs your help

Three hilarious ads from the Turkish Kalbimiz Sokakta Atiyor / BGD Stray Animals Foundation.

Gorilla iPhone app

Another nice idea for a charitable iPhone app – follow a family of gorillas and support the Virunga National Park where they live. Something I often talk to charities about – they have access to incredible, inspiring and fascinating content. They need to work out how to monetise this (effectively the model behind things like child sponsorship) and iphone apps can do that brilliantly.  (More screengrabs after the jump).

Have a break: Greenpeace vs KitKat

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.

Cure the victims of cosmetic tests

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.”

Dogs for adoption with a Facebook profile

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.