The British Embassy in Bangkok are initiating a social media campaign ‘Elephants Are Like Us’. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the elephant ivory illegal trade in Thailand, and the illegal wildlife trade in general.
The ‘Elephants Are Like Us’ campaign will encourage Thai social media users to participate in a contest by posting digital content of themselves which highlight the similarities between elephant and human behaviour. Those wishing to enter the contest can post up to 3 pictures to their Facebook or Instagram pages and tag #elephantsarelikeus and @UKinThailand. The competition will run from 28 January to 8 March 2019. Shortlisted entrants’ pictures will be posted on the British Embassy’s official Facebook page and put to a public vote from 9 March to midday on 12 March 2019. The winners will be announced on 13 March 2019, Thai Elephant Day.
The winners will be determined using a point-based system, where ‘one like’ equals ‘one point’, ‘one comment’ equals ‘two points’, and ‘tagging a friend’ equals ‘three points’. Entrants of the top ten pictures with the highest scores will win exciting prizes.
The UK has taken a leading role in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), putting into law a complete ban of the sale of ivory last year. The British Embassy in Bangkok wish to further highlight the plight of Thai elephants and combat the grim and illegal trade of elephant ivory. The ‘Elephants Are Like Us’ campaign is a proactive step towards increasing public awareness in the hopes of eradicating usage, ownership and trade of ivory products once and for all.
Mr Brian Davidson, the British Ambassador to Thailand, said, “The purpose of the campaign is to use social media platforms as a megaphone to inform the public of this pressing global issue. An issue that is endangering the lives of these precious and majestic creatures. We’re proud to be leading the way in Thailand in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade, particularly the illegal trade in elephant ivory”.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), places a conservative estimate value of $2.5bn in illegal profits annually for the illegal wildlife trade in the East Asia and Pacific region. The British government and the British Embassy in Bangkok, continue to raise awareness of the issue by funding projects that defend against IWT and lobbying other governments to do the same.
