Social marketing in action (photo essay): Unveiling the Black-necked Crane Mascot in Yunnan Province, China
On Nov. 7, 2009 Rare held a festival related to their Black-necked Crane pride campaign at the Dashanbao Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China (I wrote previously about the campaign here). The festival included a number of different activities and attracted a large crowd. The following is a photo essay of the event.
I’m not sure when Rare’s Dashanbao festival officially started, but soon after the Black-necked Crane mascot first emerged, he attracted a large crowd of locals, and the lively event was underway.
The volunteers who handed out information on the Black-necked Crane and the Dashanbao Nature Reserve were quickly mobbed by curious local villagers.
Participants and passers-by spent a lot of time looking at the picture boards we had set up. I overheard a few people proudly pointing to and discussing where their village is located in relation to the scenery.
The local young man that we found to wear the crane costume did a great job. He seemed to become increasingly comfortable with time and he did his best to mimic the Black-necked Crane’s distinctive playful dance, delighting everyone.
The children were so excited about the crane mascot that it was difficult to move them far enough away to leave room for the singing and dancing of our volunteers.
We set up a number of games for the children, including this one in which participants had to try to locate the crane’s eye on the photograph after being blindfolded and spun around in circles. Participants accumulated points for successfully completing the games and later traded them in for prizes.
I was not the only person shooting photos during the festival. The presence of photographers and foreigners definitely added to the excitement of the event. I took over one hundred shots during the event, and was photographed hundreds of times by others. I felt like a celebrity.
Our volunteers staged multiple puppet shows about protecting Black-necked Cranes, demonstrating how environmental degradation impacts the cranes. They were received very warmly by the local children. Overall I felt that the festival was quite successful. The puppet show was especially effective as it both attracted attention and conveyed a message. With the excitement expressed by the local children throughout the event, they are sure to remember this day for a very long time. Thus, the next generation is being prepared to take on the role of local environmental stewards.
