Two years following Prime Minister Yingluck’s announcement to “end all ivory trade in Thailand” at the CITES 2013 Conference, despite much progress made, the highly anticipated “law” began to lose its momentum. Without pressure from international media, the government shifted its focus to “more urgent” tasks at hand, dusting this “elephant issue” off to the back burner.

The objective was to rekindle that “pressure”, not from the media, but from the only force the government cannot deny, its people. The campaign made elephants relevant to Thais more than ever before. By removing “Chor Chang” from the Thai alphabet, for the first time, Thais would finally realize the impact of elephant extinction.

We strategically targeted online influencers who had the biggest stakes to lend their voices, unlike past campaigns where the aim were to target academics whose factual, one-way communications made elephant extinction a distant issue, and have almost always fail to rally public support.

The creative and simple execution soon made the issue go viral and observed record engagement, not only from the public, but from the media who found themselves in the midst of one of the biggest mass mobilization efforts and headline stories for animal rights in Thailand. This campaign undoubtedly put “Chor Chang” back on the agenda. In January, the Thai government finally passed and announced the Elephant Ivory Act.

The elephant is a national symbol and Thailand's most beloved animal. Elephants even have a letter in Thai alphabet, Chor Chang,that can be seen everywhere, at every level of Thai society.

WWF Thailand campaigned the whole country to take notice, and condemn this murderous act

With 1 simple action:To symbolically remove Chor Chang from all words baring the letter.

By removing the letter, they lend a voice to the elephants that are facing extinction. And pressure the government for stricter laws to protect them.

In the past, Thais barely know the name of Mae Wong National Park, as a result of the campaign, not only more people recognize, but also aware that it is the only exuberant forest left in Thailand. It created awareness and raised people’s consciousness to cherish both wildlife animals and natural wealth of Mae Wong Nation Park. The campaign was part in waking the flow of Thais movement against wildlife hunting. forest invasion, and Mae Wong dam construction. The people’s voices who cherish Mae Wong did reach the government sector. This forced the government to reconsider the issue and finally decided to stop Mae Wong dam project. More park rangers are also appointed to protect Mae Wong National Park. Today, Mae Wong is still the forest with high biodiversity of both wildlife and plants.