Why is this work relevant for Direct?

It is because this campaign raises a question about Hanko, which is the unique signature culture in Japan, and promotes behaviour change of Japanese people. At the same time, “the petition website to ban ivory sales” is set up to submit the petition to the Japanese government.

Background

WildAid, that is a wildlife conservation organization, calls on countries to end its ivory trade to protect African elephants facing extinction from poaching. After the ivory trade in China was banned, Japan currently has the highest domestic sales of ivory in the world. This is because there are demands for ivory to make Hanko, which is personal stamp used in the unique signature culture. It will be ideal if Japan can declare "Ivory Free” to achieve 4 in 17 goals of SDGs by 2020 as a host country for Olympics and Paralympics. However, most Japanese people are unaware that Hanko account for 80% of consumption, and African elephants face extinction due to ivory poaching. How can the tragic truth be told to Japanese people? How can we reduce the ivory Hanko consumption? Is it possible to close the ivory market?

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Hanko is used as official signatures in Japan. Due to the importance of Hanko, many of us buy Hanko of ivory, which is believed to be the most luxurious material. However, most Japanese people are unaware of the tragic truth behind ivory Hanko. The idea is to show the cruelty of Hanko by using Hanko. We created an animation made entirely of wood Hanko to describe the tragic truth behind ivory Hanko and underscore the urgency of choosing sustainable materials.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Most Japanese people are unaware of the tragic truth behind ivory Hanko. 79.3% of Japanese people did not know that Japan is one of the biggest markets in the world for ivory. 56.4% of Japanese people think that ivories are taken from naturally-dead elephants. Elephant is an animal which has long been popular among Japanese people. Elephant appears at picture book, is kept in zoo and is used as logo marks of several companies and products. It should be shocking for Japanese people that ivory Hanko causes elephant poaching. Everyone should have doubt about the value of ivory if we know the fact. The solution is very simple; we should decide not to choose ivory when we buy Hanko. #IChooseNotToChooseIvory

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

This animation was made using 500 wood Hanko pressed onto 2400 sheets of paper and shot sheet-by-sheet. It was launched online on Earth Day. Meanwhile, with the hashtag “#IChooseNotToChooseIvory”, OOH, print, and SNS postings by KOLs spread the message further. Furthermore, a petition site was set up to collect signatures toward the banning of domestic ivory sales.

List the results (30% of vote)

Domestic and foreign authorized media reported and brought a lot of responses and supporters even though, it is the serious theme related to the Japanese government. There was a huge discussion on Twitter. The debates were distributed with more than 30,000 retweets, and the ivory trade problem was recognized throughout Japan. It reached 3400 share on Facebook. The number of petition is over 7,000 and continuing to grow. (This will be submitted to the government.)

Please tell us about the social behaviour and/or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

Japanese people tend to consider tradition and culture are valuable and accept absurd customs. We often avoid mention about social problems. However, we are also hugely influenced by brave statements and new messages. Ivory Hanko potentially contain the topical theme which can change our behavior.