Tuna Campaign

Background

The Bluefin tuna ought to be on the endangered list. But it’s not, because Japan and China have paid bribes to keep it off that list. If Asians don’t take Bluefin off the menu, it’s likely to become extinct pretty soon.

Idea

To get people to realise that eating Bluefin is endangering the entire species, the idea was a simple analogy.

Eating Bluefin is like eating panda.

A website was created, which offered panda meat for sale )ww.panda-meat.com) and sampling booths were set up in busy supermarkets and travekl fairs to tempt passers-by.

Most people reacted strongly. “You sick bastards.” “How could you kill pandas?” And “I’m calling the police” were the most common initial responses. But once those people had the double standards pointed out to them, it was “Really? I didn’t know.” And “I’ll never eat Bluefin again.”

Results

171,467 people pledged to give up eating Bluefin. Also, no pandas were harmed in the experiment.

Our Thoughts

At Directory we are strong believers in the need for tighter controls of fishing before what is already a major problem becomes a major disaster.

The trouble is, it’s hard to cuddle a fish, though the actress Greta Scaachi gave it a go. Fish are not warm-blooded so we treat them cold-bloodedly.

But this idea neatly sidesteps the issue that tuna are neither attractive to look nor fun to watch. It puts the image of a nice, lovable bear in our brains instead of an unblinking shiny thing normally found ten metres underwater. And that’s how it makes its point, substituting something we do care about for something we don’t.