As we approach the Global March for Lions on March 15^th the Breaking the Brand team would like to highlight how the model we have used to create the rhino campaign can help design behaviour change adverts targeting the canned hunting industry and its ‘supply chain’, namely lion cub petting and walking safaris with lions.

As a group of people the BTB team find wildlife enthralling and we can understand why unsuspecting tourists, who feel the same way, could think of nothing more thrilling than getting up close to one of the world’s most captivating animals. We are sure that these same people would be truly mortified if they knew that in the case of lion farms what they are supporting was potentially creating victims for the canned hunting industry.

Using the Spiral Dynamics behaviour change model outlined in our previous blog we have created prototype examples of the type of adverts that could trigger behaviour change. Many of the canned hunting images are grainy as they were filmed with hidden cameras. Depending on the person targeted, namely the person seeking an amazing wildlife experience or the person involved in canned hunting, the emotion to be elicited by the adverts changes. [Read more…]

There are a lot of initiatives under way to stop the relentless increase in rhino poaching. Unfortunately, we are not seeing any discernable success as rhino poaching continues to grow at a rate of around 50% a year. In order to properly understand the problem we need to look at the link between customer demand for genuine rhino horn (which currently mostly comes from Viet Nam) and the complex supply chain that has been put in place to satisfy this rising demand.

In essence, there are only three possible approaches to saving rhinos in the wild: [Read more…]

As individuals we are not fixed in our nature, we evolve and adapt due to different life circumstances and are able to deal with greater intellectual and emotional complexity. Spiral Dynamics is one of the models used to describe this evolution.

According to developers of Spiral Dynamics, Graves, Beck and Cowan, our core values progress and regress over time depending upon the life circumstances we find ourselves in. The research undertaken over many years has uncovered that this model works on the individual level and also on the level of a group or even whole societies; it also established that this model is independent of culture, which led them to believe that it is associated with the ‘deep structure’ of our consciousness. [Read more…]

The demand for illegal and endangered wildlife products needs an ever greater focus. Some animals have become so valuable for their parts that the cost of their 24/7 security is becoming prohibitive.

In such instances, when there is limited time for awareness raising and education, brand breaking for behaviour change strategies are needed. Similarly, while education and awareness raising can be broad and appeal to the community, when immediate behaviour change is needed then the focus should be on the actual users of these illegal/endangered products.

For the behaviour change message to be effective with the actual user it needs to elicit an immediate emotional response in the person; to do this they are generally controversial. A perfect example of this is the anti-fur campaign of the 1980s by Lynx (now Respect For Animals); they were using behavioural economics intuitively and long before it was formally studied. These campaigns were targeted for being sexist, which they are not. They simply target the people wearing fur coats and, in the main, they are women.

The customer didn’t like being called a ‘dumb animal’	The customer didn’t like being called a ‘rich bitch’
Again the advert’s focus is the customer and NOT the animal	We have gone from a ‘rich bitch’ (right for 80’s) to a ‘spoilt bitch’ (for today)

So how can we apply these techniques to other current threats to wildlife? The approach used in the Breaking The Brand rhino horn campaign could be applied to issues such as canned lion hunting or habitat loss caused by palm oil plantations.

Affluent Mothers

Why do affluent Asian mothers also use rhino horn? They are probably the wives of the wealthy businessmen who use rhino horn and they often use it as ‘insurance’ in case their child gets sick.

• Believe that rhino horn can help children be healthy and strong; and regain strength in times of weakness/illness
• Believe in fever-reducing qualities of rhino horn – in line with original use in Chinese/Vietnamese medicine and keep small quantities at home in case child gets a high fever
• Small individual quantities are given, but group size is large, therefore demand will continue to grow with economic growth

Terminally Ill or Seriously Ill Patients and Their Family

• A recent popular belief in Viet Nam seemingly promotes rhino horn usage as treatment, and possibly a cure, for life-threatening cancer.
• Evidence of rhino horn dealers or their touts deliberately seeking out and targeting individuals suffering from cancer
• Touts have been found infiltrating cancer wards and in some cases are doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff
• Patients are hapless victims of false hope, expending large sums of money on rhino horn remedies that will probably do little, if anything, to improve their medical conditions

There is also an expectation that wealthy children will purchase rhino horn for a sick parent. In many cases this younger, more educated group do not believe in rhino horn but the culture is such that you do not question or refuse your parents.

Less than 2 years ago we were losing 1 rhino every 24 hours to poachers in South Africa. At the beginning of 2013 it was 1 rhino every 11 hours and, in a matter of months, it’s now standing at 1 rhino every 9 hours.

Want more information on rhino poaching? To see the tragic reality of what is happening to the rhino check out the website Stop Rhino Poaching (link below), but a warning: some of the images are distressing.

http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/

The exponential growth of the killing spree is due to the rapid rise in wealth in Asia and currently the main culprit causing the demise of the rhino are businessmen in Viet Nam. Since 2003 Vietnam has rapidly grown to become the world’s largest recipient of illegal sources of rhino horn from South Africa. Rhino horn trade and usage in this market had largely remained an undocumented mystery until a TRAFFIC report in 2012 [“The South Africa – Viet Nam Rhino Horn Trade Nexus”] identified the 3 key consumer groups and their motivations. The report also made it clear that even though Vietnam is a signatory to CITES, curtailing the trade into and inside the country would be exceedingly difficult. Multiple wholesale and sales channels exist once rhino horn enters the country and policing the borders is ineffective at this stage, as the very small amount of seized rhino horn illustrates.

TRAFFIC research predicted the rhino killings in South Africa in 2012 to be 532. In reality it was 668, 2.7% of the whole population. So far in 2013 we have lost 587 +.

Let’s not let the killing rate escalate to 1 in 8 hours – it’s time to slow down the clock so we don’t lose this iconic animal.

In an attempt to prevent poaching, game reserves are now injecting poison into the rhinos’ horns to scare off consumer demand. Currently, this strategy is not well known in Viet Nam and it would be helpful if there was more public awareness the risk of ingesting poisoned rhino horn. Because rhino horn consumption is associated with health/strength by all primary user groups, they will concerned about poisoned rhino horn entering the supply chain.

The users of rhino horn need to be made aware of the rhino horn poisoning strategy, particularly given that the toxins used included organophosphates. If the users ingest these toxins they become very sick with nausea and diarrhoea. These toxins can also have long-term effects on the central nervous system and on brain development. The user need to know there is a great and great risk of ingesting rhino horn that has been poisoned given how many conservancies are using this technique and in some country’s it is becoming a state sanctioned strategy.