[See updates below: This ad was not authorized by the WWF and the group has loudly condemned it. It was created by advertising agency DDB Brazil as a concept but not accepted by WWF.]
The World Wildlife Fund thought the approaching anniversary of 9/11 would be a good time to unveil their new IN YOUR FACE ad campaign.
The ad copy reads, “The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.“
Yes. Respect the planet. I wonder what else we might want to respect?
Is the WWF competing with PETA to be the biggest assholes in the world? It’s a close race.
UPDATE: The US wing of the WWF denies any knowledge of this ad, and says that they “strongly condemn both the message and the images.” So, is it a hoax? It appears to have won some award, so it would be a hell of a hoax.
Oh, and one more thing: If the planet is so damn deadly, why do we want to preserve it? Seems like we’d want to control it, since it’s obviously trying to kill us all. Just a thought.
UPDATE TWO: The WWF is strongly condemning this ad and would like to assure everyone that they did not authorize or endorse it. It appears to have been created as a concept by the advertising agency DDB Brazil.
My apologies to the WWF for comparing them to PETA.
You may continue supporting baby panda welfare now.
Tell ya what – you guys stop using 9 times the median amount of global resources and we’ll get off your case.
K?
I see nothing offensive about that ad. I’m sure some knee-jerk ‘patriot’ will claim otherwise though.
They sound like those few idiot environmentalists who tried to blame the tsunami on global warming.
9/11! George W. Bush! War on Terra! What exactly is disrespectful? The fact that Anthony Hecht believes 3000 American lives are worth more than 1,000,000 Iraqi lives or the 300,000 killed by the tsunami? Explain why your right wing heart thinks this is disrespectful because us left wingers mourn ALL tragedies, not just ones George W. Bush insists are more valuable.
@2, Exploiting 9/11 for their own political/organization propaganda is offensive. As offensive as Bush and the righty’s using it to drag us into a war.
Natural disasters happen. 3000 dead by the hands of men… shouldn’t.
SNACK TIME 4 MEEEEE, WILL I IZ GOOOONA EAT UUUUUUUU.
BEST WAY TO SAVE HENERGY IZ TO EATS ALL THE PEEPS.
@1 – Irrelevant. This has nothing to do with WWF’s cause or mission, it’s just plain nuts for them to exploit a mass murder to promote their agenda. It has nothing to do with politics, it’s just bad taste.
It’s offensive because it’s taking the lowest and easiest road possible.
Instead of images of drowing animals/people getting swirled around in the wash they decide “oh, hey, let’s piss people off for attention”.
It’s a cool looking picture, in a Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer sort of way.
But what does either 9/11 or the big tsunami have to do with endangered animals?
Or am I unaware of the WWF’s mission?
I like it.
Anthony,
Agree, bad move on WWF’s part. They, like PETA garner bad publicity. Alas, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. The WWF garners publicity nonetheless.
@9: Their mission is to meet Macho Man Randy Savage tonight at the Cleveland Municipal Auditorium for a no-holds-barred cage match.
Insanely tasteless. Maybe somebody should fly a plane into WWF’s headquarters.
WOW. That is so unnecessary.
The art is well done, I’ll give them that.
hey WWF, the holocuast killed 100 times the amount of people the tsunami did.
and this point proves…what? evil dictators are more dangerous than mother nature?
so perhaps we should give to the stop evil dictators fund instead of WWF?
this type of logic to make a point is a bit ridiculous.
As a New Yorker, this is stomach turning. I used to donate to the WWF. I’ve just told them no more, unless there is a public apology and a firing of the people and/or firm responsible.
Fuck you and your cuddly panda logo.
I actually like the ad, fwiw.
Visually it’s brilliant…
but,
too soon.
Interesting — I just got this back in my e-mail:
Thank you for your email to World Wildlife Fund.
Until today, we were not aware of this ad. We are currently working to determine whether or not this is a hoax of some sort. It was not created by WWF-US and we strongly condemn both the messaging and the images. We are doing what we can to have this appalling ad pulled from any further circulation. On behalf of WWF, here in the US and around the world, we can promise you this ad does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.
If you have additional questions or concerns please call 800-960-0993. Thank you for your commitment to global conservation. Together we can make a world of difference.
Best regards,
Ruairi
World Wildlife Fund
“THE tsunami”? The language is sloppy, and suspicious.
I agree this is tasteless and counterproductive, and the tsunami connection isn’t readily apparent. It’s a bit like when a few animal activists misguidedly use the word “Holocaust” to describe factory farming.
And yet, I fully recognize that climate change has the potential to exact a death toll well into the millions. Heck, even that’s something of an understated description.
Anyway, I’m reminded of an opinion column I read in the LA Times a few years ago that tried to put the “war on terror” in perspective. The article opened asking the reader to imagine that the United States suffered a 9/11-scale attack (in terms of deaths) every six hours, and this would go on for some interminable period. Eventually you’d reach 20 million, which is a conservative estimate of the number of citizens of the Soviet Union killed during World War II.
God, I forget now precisely what the larger point of the article was, but it’s hard to forget that gruesome mental exercise.
A follow-up from a Connecticut news outlet: http://bit.ly/jIPbX
@19 right. Too late now. I don’t believe their response.
The damage has already been done. You can’t “un-publicize” your publicity once it is out.
FAIL.
MASSIVE FAIL.
WWF has done more to paint a completely false picture of hunting and conservation than any other organization combined. They are a total joke, and any honest research into their agenda and methodology quickly brings this to bear.
WWF is a sham organization. Always has been.
WWF = PETA
PETA = WWF
They are essentially no different.
It’s funny ’cause it’s true!
And it’s very true.
“climate change has the potential to exact a death toll well into the millions.”
This is the kind of hyperbole that gives credence to the Global Warming deniers. There is NO evidence to support that claim. It’s complete speculation. Potential? That is a weasle word with no substance. Due to assertion like this and the WWF poster, global warming is becoming a modern-day Armegeddon myth.
Lets be very clear, though global warming is occurring and influenced by human behaviors, there is no credible evidence that suggest it will claim 1 million lives. I mean, c’mon 1 million deaths over a year, 10 years, 100 years? What are we even talking about. I’m assuming you mean human deaths. In any case, no one knows what will happen and it is pure unadulterated speculation to throw out death counts.
Lets ditch the Bush-style scare tactics and stick with facts.
Remember this the next time corporate interests and budget cuts fuck with EARTH SCIENCE.
Sully will save us.
As an earth scientists what pisses me off is that the Tsunami had nothing to do with humans mucking up the planet. Katrina and the epic heat waves that have killed tens of thousands are a different story . . . Point being I wish they’d get they’d at least get their fucking facts straight before employing shock advertising
Of course this exploiting of disaster victims by any political front pisses me off too.
@26: You are not very smart, are you?
@ 23, why don’t you just say nothing at all, since you can’t say anything intelligent?
Dudes,
The WWF disowned the ad in the very first sentence on the linked web site, as well they should – tasteless, stupid:
“The WWF says it never approved this ad and is condemning it.”
@33,
Condemned it after they’ve been condemned.
wtf….why do we have to be so PC about 9/11?
@33 – That sentence was added recently as WWF is quickly responding to the ad.
Remember, no jello wrestling with the WWF – jello is made from horses.
@35: As a Seattle native living in NYC since before 9/11, it’s been interesting seeing the healing process across the space of the country. Even in the months — even WEEKS — after 9/11, while we in NYC were dealing with body parts being found on rooftops, I had friends in Seattle joking about it and wondering what the big deal was. I don’t know where you are, but here it’s still, as they say, too soon. There’s still a scar in the earth where two of the largest buildings you’ll ever see stood – buildings that were full of people. People are still missing loved ones – I don’t know, when is it ok to trivialize that, to joke about that, to use that for marketing? It was real and it was big. If you can’t understand that, I’m sorry for your lack of compassion.
Medina @26 on my allegedly wild assertion that global warming has the potential to exact a death toll well into the millions: There is NO evidence to support that claim. It’s complete speculation. Potential? That is a weasle word with no substance.
Medina, you must fall into the category of genius observers of reality who believe that, until something actually happens, it is impossible.
P.S. Your posts might be taken a little more seriously if you ran a spell check on them. (Or perhaps that’s your way of making it clear that you’re speaking on behalf of the common man.)
Ad agencies often do pro bono work for non-profit organizations, and usually with good intentions. But sometimes it’s for the ad makers’ own cynical self-serving attention-whoring, and sometimes it’s even without the organization’s knowledge or approval. If the ads are “shocking” or “edgy” enough, it gets the ad agency some media buzz and maybe an award. I believe WWF when they say this is an unauthorized ad. But advertising geeks and art directors are probably fapping around the globe right now.
So…the ad apparently never appeared on the WWF website, never appeared in any print publications — never appeared anywhere except on some blogs.
Yet once again Anthony flies off the handle, starts spreading accusations, never shows a scintilla of critical thinking, never actually checks with the WWF — and once again comes off looking like the stupid fucking credulous hack that he is.
This doesn’t seem like a WWF ad. Their ads are usually pretty good.
Sounds like DDB Brasil has some ‘splaining to do.
@32 Kiss my fucking ass. You are a fucking moron for not understanding what this group is truly about.
Name one incorrect factual statement I made in my post @23.
I dare you.
WWF is as close to a domestic terrorist organization that we have in the United States. They have done a terrible disservice to Conservation in the United States, and are frankly a mirrored twin of PETA in many ways. Founded in 1961 by Prince Philip of Britain and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, the WWF (now called World Wide Fund for Nature) functions as the leading European oligarchical families’ intelligence arm. It is the single most important “environmentalist organization” operating in the world today, and is responsible for overseeing all of the operations of the global environmentalist movement, including fostering terrorism, insurrections, and civil wars.
The professed concern of the group is to protect “endangered species” threatened by industrial development, particularly in former British colonies. It has done this, in part, through setting up “national parks” and “ecological reserves” outside the control of national governments, in targetted regions. These parks, in turn, serve as training grounds and safe-havens for British-backed terrorist organizations. Exemplary is the use of the national parks in Africa, to train and protect all the “liberation fronts” under British control.
The WWF’s “1001 Club,” made up of 1,001 individuals hand-picked by Prince Philip, is the ruling body of the group. It is dominated by members of the oligarchical families of Europe, and includes some of their leading operatives within government and industry. The WWF works closely with the Royal Geographical Society, and The Fauna and Flora Preservation Society, both patronized by Queen Elizabeth.
https://www.fpcn-global.org/content/More…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_…
@38 I’m from NY, we are over it, at least we are over being PC, this shit happen all over the world every second of the day, if we spent any more time then a year mourning its way too long….to be politically correct would require mourning every second of every day for every soul that has been lost in a tragic event. Its so USA to be sad about the death of a group of Americans and be ignorant of the rest of the world. I support any use offensive images to push what i consider an important agenda….but i’m also a whackjob liberal….so there ya go, its quite simple really.
I’m a whackjob liberal, too Squirrel. I find it repugnant to use mass murder to market anything to me (that includes a war). That’s not PC, that’s humane. I’m also against Pol Pot Pie or the Quiznos oven making Holocaust references.
Three questions — How old were you in 2001? NY or NYC? If the latter, were you actually living here during 9/11 or did you move here later? No one I know who lived here at the time, who was old enough to be aware of what happened, is “over it”. We’re not weeping uncontrollably, in fact, frequently I don’t even think about it until some asshole does something like the print ad in question, but we’re not “over it”.
What a powerful image! Brilliant! I’m glad my donations are going towards such creativity. It never seizes to amaze me how easily offended americans can be in our censored, yet free society.
Nice, JoeGDWNTROLL. You’re right. Why should the murder of 2,750 human beings be offensive? You and Andy should start an ad agency based on horrific human atrocities. I got you started with your first couple campaigns above.
It’s Slog, I should know better… I know nothing is sacred here, but sometimes I wonder if it is just for shock value or if humanity is so cheap.
You’ve all been punked,
you judgemental clueless whiny bitch ASSHOLES.
Real or not, that ad SUCKS! It makes no sense at all. It’s a bad metaphor and uses a cheap image to grab attention. All smoke and no fire. This is just the kind of thing agencies pimp to show how “edgy” and “creative” they are. It’s utter bullshit.