The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) advertising campaigns in Chinese cities have produced some interesting impression ROI after 3 years. RapidAsia conducted the research on advertisements designed to educate the public about the slaughter of elephants required to obtain the ivory.

It is currently estimated that 70% of China's population believes that ivory tusks simply fall out or are discarded and killing of elephants is not part of the obtainment process.

It is not known the sample size of the audiences or the specific cities that were part of the campaign at this writing. Stats are as follows:

1. 66 percent of those who saw the ads said they would “definitely” not buy ivory in the future.

2. The ads have reached 75 percent of people in targeted cities.

3. 92 percent of those who saw the ads said they would “definitely” or “probably” not buy ivory, compared to 82 percent of those who had not seen the ads.

4. The campaign appears to have cut in half people who are most likely to buy ivory (i.e those classified as “high risk” for purchasing ivory), down from 54 percent down to 26 percent.

5. The report found that more educational campaigns would help reduce demand further, including emphasizing the massive-scale of the current elephant poaching crisis and that buying ivory stimulates the illegal trade.

One might question if this is a PR tactic by IFAW to gain more dollars for running campaigns or increasing media impressions. It is not clear the target demographic that the statistics represent, the cities as mentioned previously, or the media vehicle(s) used (i.e. commercials on television, radio, print, outdoor, billboard, leaflet, otherwise etc.)

If censorship of information remains an issue in China, I am curious as to how these campaigns are being conducted, the costs and if the demographic target can make an immediate difference in the ivory buying market by simply saying "no to ivory." It may be more of a long term strategy to approach the market educating in this manner.

A key factor here is what is the cost to obtain the statistics above and if indeed it is an influential market. If this is expensive to pursue, how long can IFAW keep up the momentum? This requires more donation dollars to execute for longer periods of time.

Interesting questions.

Articles at the following links:

<a href="http://newsroom.wildlifedirect.org/2013/10/17/advertising-campaign-changing-minds-in-china-on-ivory-trade/">http://newsroom.wildlifedirect.org/2013/10/17/advertising-campaign-changing-minds-in-china-on-ivory-trade/</a>
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<div><a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1016-hance-advertising-ivory.html#4sCwmGl9uSwPHK4y.99" target="_blank">http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1016-hance-advertising-ivory.html#4sCwmGl9uSwPHK4y.99</a></div>
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