Ivory campaign in China raising awareness of elephant massacres

70% of Chinese didn't realise ivory came from dead elephants

July 2013. A recent evaluation of an advertising campaign by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to reduce ivory demand in China shows that the campaign is paying dividends with 68% of the respondents said that they would definitely not buy ivory in the future.

Previous polling by IFAW found that 70% of the Chinese did not realize that ivory came from dead elephants. In Chinese, elephant ivory is called Xiang Ya (elephant tooth). This nomenclature unfortunately gives people the impression that an ivory tusk, like a person's teeth, can fall out naturally.

"This astounding discovery led us to initiate the ‘Mum I've got teeth' ad campaign about three years ago." said Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia Regional Director for IFAW. "The ads explain that ivory products come from dead elephants and encourage consumers to reject elephant ivory."

Desire for ivory reduced

The online survey found that 75% of the urban Chinese population have seen the ads, through outdoor, magazines and social media. The majority of those who were exposed to the campaign fully processed the messages (88%). The campaign has more than halved the high risk segment of people-those who are most likely to purchase elephant ivory-from 54% down to 26%.

In addition, amongst the 44% of Chinese who had purchased ivory in the past 12 months, only 7% still had any intention of making a future purchase following exposure to the ad campaign.

"It's very exciting to see that our campaign has definitely resonated with the Chinese public and achieved its intended outcome", said Gabriel. "What's more encouraging is to see Chinese people are not prejudiced against elephants. Once they know the bloody slaughter of elephants behind each piece of ivory, the majority not only rejects purchasing ivory but tells their friends and family to reject it as well."

The IFAW ads also have positive impact on past buyers of ivory. After exposure to the campaign, those saying they may buy ivory in the future reduced from a total of 18% down to 8%. Those saying they will definitely not buy ivory increased from 33% up to 66%.

"The main reason given for not purchasing ivory in the future is that they feel remorse because elephants are being killed," said Gabriel.

The survey was conducted by Rapid Asia using online panels with a sample size of 1067.

The summary report is available online at: www.ifaw.org/ivoryreport

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