IT ‘S QUITE IRONIC

In a predominantly Buddhist country where elephants are revered, the world’s largest unregulated ivory trade takes place. Massive quantities of African ivory are being laundered through shops in Thailand, as criminal networks outsmart its loose ivory trade regulations, thus fuelling a global poaching crisis.

While regarding elephants as its national symbol, Thailand has long been oblivious to this global issue. Meanwhile, the WWF sees a full ban as the solution.

The 177-nation 2013 CITES conference in Bangkok presented an opportunity, hence the WWF’s efforts on pressuring the Thai Prime Minister to announce the ban at its opening. In previous CITES conferences held in Thailand, elephant poaching was never a part of the agenda. If WWF was lucky, this could be the first!

To address this country’s perplexing numbness to the issue, the SHAME ON US campaign was directed at three specific groups: Thailand’s citizenry, the business sector, and the government. It played on “guilt”, by urging the people to re-examine their conscience and participate in a big sign-up campaign to save the animals that are held in high esteem in Thai history and culture. The business community’s cooperation was sought by tempering weighty business concerns and offering solutions, while the government was reminded of the ban’s positive effects on the country’s image and its leadership.

WWF’s efforts finally saw fruition when, during the CITES 2013 conference opening in March, the Prime Minister announced the ban, along with the Thai government’s strong commitment to its long-term implementation.

GUILT TO GRIT

To address the indifference and generate discussion, images of elephants killed by poachers were seeded online. Celebrity voices were amplified to gain public interest. Information about ivory trade were disseminated highlighting Thailand’s role in the global issue, plus its significance in the CITES conference.

At the height of public interest, the people were challenged to save an elephant by donating their “greatest value” – their name – written on paper, in an event with a giant paper elephant as centerpiece reminding people of the enormity of the issue and their contribution to the cause. The media impact plus the thousands of signatures gathered were used to add pressure on announcing the ban.

Strong opinion editorials talked about business ethics and quality standardization as prerequisites for Thailand to become a global jewelry hub, and that the illegal ivory trade actually does more harm than good for the country.

ALL EARS

The world listened as the Thai PM announced the ban at CITES opening, spurred by thousands of citizens calling for action.

•Pre CITES TV coverage reached 4.6M in viewership; while print reached 8.8M. Post CITES, buzz of illegal poaching spilt over to domestic killings, thus generated additional viewership of estimated 50M by TV and coverage of 57.3M by print. A total of 79 TV segments and 99 articles generated.

•Within 2 weeks, over 17,000 YouTube views, 4,400 likes and 456 threads were generated from campaign posts

•Pre versus post CITES keyword search on “ivory trade” and “Thai elephant poaching” showed 40% and 100% increase respectively.

•Over 32,000 names donated to the cause. Thailand ranked 4th worldwide in the rally

•Thai government revised laws protecting domestic and wild elephants and has put in place a tracking system following PM’s visit and investigation into elephant killings in Thai national parks