FCB Cape Town: Amarula Trust reminds people the ivory trade is on us.

It’s easy to get up in arms about the ivory trade. The images of hacked and dying elephants, that turn up in news publications and Facebook feeds, are heartbreaking.

FCB Cape Town’s campaign for the Amarula Trust wants people to feel more than heartbreak over the slaughter of elephants. It wants them to feel a sense of responsibility. The ivory trade would shut down if people stopped buying ivory.

The education campaign, Don’t Let Them Disappear, aims to spread the message that every ivory product bought and sold on the black market means another elephant lost to poaching.

The campaign is led by an online film, which demonstrates that ordinary, well-meaning people unwittingly perpetuate the killing – every 15 minutes – of another African elephant for its ivory.

The film tells the story of a tracker as he follows the trail of poached ivory from a dead bull elephant, across the plains of Africa, the shipyards of Nairobi, the backstreets of Hong Kong and all the way to an upmarket apartment in New York City.

It ends with the message, Ivory poaching stops with you.

According to FCB Cape Town, Mike Barnwell, the plight of African elephants has always been an integral part of the Amarula story. The marula fruit used to create Amarula only grows in one place on earth – the untamed African plains, side-by-side with majestic herds of these gentle animals.

“Since 2002, Amarula has been supporting elephant conservation through a variety of initiatives, including the Amarula Elephant Project, under the direction of Professor Rob Slotow of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“Most recently, it partnered with Wildlife Direct. Firstly, on the Name Them Save Them project, which brought attention to this cause by asking the public to name the last 400,000 African elephants.

#Don’tLetThemDisappear is its second collaboration with Wildlife Direct.