I was working on a project for my “Brodcasting in a Global Environment” class. We were assigned to do an ad campaign for our final project. I could not make up my mind on what I wanted to do for the project. I thought to myself, “why don’t I do something with deforestation since I have been working with that topic rather extensively lately?” The ideas came pretty fast after that.
Indonesia was once pretty much completely forested. Today, 65% of that original forest remains. Much of the land is being cleared by the timber industry to make paper and for palm plantations for the production of palm oil. Indonesia became the world’s leading producer of palm oil. In the process, many species of animals that are critically endangered risk becoming extinct due to habitat loss. Some of the at risk species include: The Bornean Orangutan, the Sumatran Orangutan, the Sumatran Tiger, the Sumatran Elephant, the Pygmy Elephants of Borneo and the Sumatran Rhinoceros.
I chose to focus on the Orangutans for my ad campaign. As they lose their habitat, orangutans venture on to palm plantations in search for food. Sometimes, they build their nests nearby. However, palm plantations owners view them as pests that cause damage to their crops. The owners order plantation workers to rid them of these “pests” by any means, which include, beating/maiming and even killing them.
A photo of an orangutan (above) that I chose for the project ended up creating a nest nearby a plantation. To try and rid the animal from the area, they set the tree the animal was in on fire. While they intended on the orangutan to flee the area, he instead caught on fire and fell from the tree. Orangutan conservationists were called in to try and save the animal, administering a shot of anesthesia while the primate covered his face. While they were at first hopeful that the orangutan would recover from its injuries, the creature succumbed to its wounds the next day.
My ad campaign goal is to educate and spread awareness of habitat loss and the spread of palm plantations in Indonesia. The four ads below have been translated into the main languages spoken in Indonesia.
When you buy products, look for the CSPO logo that is featured below and at the end of the ad. It guarantees that products you buy contain Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) which is brought to you by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). For more information on Certified Sustainable Palm Oil and the RSPO, visit their webpage: http://www.rspo.org/
Deforestation Ad Campaign Project
- Bahasa Indonesia
- English
- Dutch
- Javanese
Deforestation Evaluation 