Animals that put menacing hunting rifles on their arms are the subjects of the maxi billpostings made by WWF for the “Target Practice” campaign against the protected species hunting.
What sensation would you feel if going along the subway underpass you’d suddenly find out you’re a pray on the sight of a hunter? Probably it would be a fear such that it would be able to paralyze you. And it’s quite this reaction the creative people of Ogilvy wanted to cause with “Target Practice”, the campaign made by WWF against animals hunting and maltreatment.
The creative concept points to invert the roles between man and animal: man becomes undefended victim and animal becomes ruthless hunter. To make concrete this idea they made several maxi billpostings, portraying animals with hunting rifles on their arms, pointing to the passers-by. The photos were installed along the underpass walls of Benjin’s subway, in China, used by more than 9.000 people a day. Rendering this “man hunting” even more realistic and interactive is the presence of a sensor that acts as a laser sight and emits fire gun bursts. In the exit of the underpass, the WWF volunteers picked up a large number of consents. The installation however caused a so elevated alarm on the passers-by that, after only a single day, it was required to be removed.
WWF, the most important league lined up with the animals cause, tried the non-conventional communication way to divulgue its activities and engagement. Even if the campaign lasted just on day, it got a strong international resonance, demonstrating that the typical guerrilla marketing instruments can be well experimented also in the social communication.
