We have to stop dumping rubbish. And yet we don’t. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now three times the size of France.
Perhaps its name is too cute for us to take it seriously? Or perhaps it’s just “too far away” for people to feel as though “it’s my problem”?
On May 11 last year, Philippine creative agency, Dentsu Jayme Syfu, put the problem of dumping rubbish in the middle of a Philippine beach. The strikingly unusual awareness campaign for Greenpeace Philippines was an installation – a dead whale made of plastic – placed on a beach in Naic in Cavite in Manila Bay in The Philippines. Manila Bay is considered to be one the most polluted bodies of water in the country.
Dead Whale (the Refuse Plastic campaign) won Best of Show, Green Award, and Platinum Award APAC at the 2018 AME Awards last week. It won the most awards at Spikes Festival Awards 2017- a Gold Spike in Media, in Outdoor, Silver in PR, Bronze in Design, and Bronze in Direct – and made Dentsu Jayme Syfu Country Agency of the Year. It also won awards at Ad Summit’s Kidlat Awards and Adfest 2018 and is shortlisted for the APAC Effie Awards.
NYF AME Awards: Dentsu Jayme Syfu Philippines wins Best of Show, Platinum & Green Awards
From a distance, the 26.3 x 3.3 metre whale looked like any of the other 30 whales that had died on beaches in the past year. (The idea was triggered when one was found in the Philippines in December in Samal, Davao.) But this whale was made entirely of plastic waste. The agency had used local artists to craft every detail, including texture, in just five days. The whale appeared to be bleeding, and spewing out of its mouth were the choking remains of plastic containers, garbage bags and bottles. All of the whale’s colours were achieved with rubbish. Blue sacks; black, grey, and white garbage bags; red net onion sacks for the “bleeding” sections; twisted white sacks for the underbelly; PET bottles were for the baleen teeth; black, white and red strings and straw for the skin.
Pictures and videos of the dead whale went viral on social media immediately, with many posts mistaking it for a real whale. A petition was launched on social media calling for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take action against plastics pollution.
Credits:
Agency: Dentsu Jayme Syfu
Chief creative officer 7 Chairperson: Merlee Jayme
Creative Director: Biboy Royong
Copywriter: Soleil Badenhop
Art Director: Blane Rosales
Production Coordinator: Sheila Villanueva
Business Unit Director: Julia Pronstroller Gallardo
Social Media Manager: Tabbi Tomas
Photography: Ruben Hamahiga Dela, Cruz Butch Garcia, Etnikolor
Post-production: Greenroom Inc.
Executive Producer: Franny Omampo
Producer: Lester Parulan
Post-Producer: JP Campos
Editors & Artists: Erin Hipolito, Jaymar Carinan & Berto Abenido
3D Animation: Underground Logic
Managing Director: Adrian Tecson
Head of Creative Operations: Paolo Morato
Senior Colourist: Leslie Tan
3D Artist, Animator & VFX Supervisor: Wayne Dayauon
Renderer: Russ Galicia
Audio House: HIT Productions
Audio Engineer: Glenn Mariano
Music Arranger: Teddy Katigbak
Media Campaigner: Angelica Pago
Client: Greenpeace Philippines
Executive Director: Yeb Sano
Oceans Campaigner: Vince Cinches
Media Campaigner: Angelica Pago
