Last but not least: Pyramid of Shame
An impressive WWF campaign, which won an award in Cannes, shows that many people are involved in the illegal trade in animal products—and the end consumer is at the top of the chain.
Strong statement, strong artwork: "Stop one. Stop them all." Animal species such as rhinos, tigers or sharks are acutely threatened with extinction. But the slaughter continues unabated: as long as there are still animals, there will be a market. The pyramid of shame designed by Leo Burnett shows: When one step is removed, the killing stops. Which one it is is in the hands of mankind. If nothing changes, the lowest tier - the animals - disappears. Better enforced bans and stricter controls could at best curb the second-bottom layer - the poachers and illegal fishermen. Experience shows, however, that if one group disappears, the next will follow. As long as money is flowing, people will be found who want to earn money without scurvy. The simplest and most efficient solution - according to the campaign's strong message - would be to start at the top of the pyramid. The end customer has it in his own hands whether he wants to buy the carving from horn, the tiger product or the shark fin. If he doesn't want to, the pyramid collapses.
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The brutal but unfortunately realistic depictions and the statement are reminiscent of a campaign that Lowe Singapore recently launched for the animal welfare organization Peta. It, too, relentlessly takes the end customer to task. Suppressing helps nothing - who buys such products, is not clearly better than the unscrupulous poachers. Perhaps mankind will still learn - for example thanks to good advertising. Like Mirror Online reported on Monday, it unfortunately does not look like that at the moment. (hae)
