In Brazil, wildlife exploitation is an increasingly serious issue––one we suspect is fueled by social media. To learn more, we crafted a detailed plan to analyze the underlying data, and the results were astonishing. Social listening tipped us to the connection and the full extent of the problem, and search data helped identify potential buyers and their behaviors. Finally, data modeling techniques tied it all together, showing how social media views connected to purchase intent. Armed with this knowledge, we then turned the data into a weapon to help fight the problem and enact positive change.

Brazil has one of the largest and most diverse biological ecosystems on the planet, home to 13% of the world’s largest animal and plant life. It also possesses one of the most active and dangerous illegal wildlife trade markets, with snakes, fish, primates, songbirds, frogs and parrots among the many species that are routinely exploited.*

Despite extensive efforts to advocate for animal rights, wild animal trafficking in Brazil has been growing exponentially, reaching an alarming 35 million individuals annually. And the problem has been compounded by a combination of factors, including a lack of quality data, data sharing, and enforcement coordination between state and federal authorities.* It’s an issue that is core to the mission of Ampara, the largest and most important animal protection and defense organization in Brazil, recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice as an OSCIP (Civil Society Organization of Public Interest). Its goal is to change society by taking action to support, educate and raise awareness about animal rights. And given the recent increase in trafficking, the challenge for our organization has never been clearer or more urgent.

*https://www.traffic.org/publications/reports/brazils-widespread-wildlife-trafficking/

Context:

Wild animal trafficking in Brazil has seen a tremendous increase in recent years.

Ampara is the largest and most important animal protection and defense organization in Brazil, recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice as a OSCIP (Civil Society Organization of Public Interest). Its goal is to change society by taking action to support, educate, and raise awareness about animal rights.

Brief:

Come up with an original idea to help alleviate the problem of wild animal trafficking.

Challenge:

Wild animals are popular! They make great content. Many people spend countless hours on TikTok and Instagram liking and sharing videos and photos of wild animals. A large portion of which includes content of wildlife that has been humanized or raised as pets.

Objectives:

Raise awareness of the issue

Help Ampara play a part in the reduction of animal trafficking

Data-Driven Insight:

The more people engage with wild animal content online, the more the algorithms suggest similar content to even wider audiences. This monetizes traffickers’ profiles and generates more demand for illegally trafficked animals.

To help reduce the trafficking of wild animals with had to reduce that demand, which meant reducing the engagement on social.

Idea:

The Wild Algorithm (Reset)

We launched a data-driven social-first campaign, making clear the cause-and-effect, and encouraging people to reset their social algorithms with a 4-step process, so they can be part of the solution.

An exhibition in one of São Paulo’s busiest areas showed trafficking cages with mobile phones trapped inside. The phones displayed wild animals in social media posts.

Then, on National Animals Day, we launched the Wild Algorithm Reset, enlisting some of Brazil’s biggest influencers to spread the world about a simple process to effectively reset the problematic algorithm.

We wanted to find out whether wild animals on social media were having any kind of measurable effect on the illegal trafficking market, and we needed the data to prove it.

We started by scouring Instagram and TikTok for content that featured domesticated wild animals, and tracked engagement they generated over two years.

Then we used Google to access the level of demand for wild animals, decoding search trends and calculating precise day-by-day measures.

The connection between social media and trafficking was clear and indisputable. Amongst other key data points, 37% of searches for monkey purchases and 18% of searches for snake purchases were directly generated by Instagram content.

Once we firmly established the connection, we needed to

1.) call attention to the problem

2.) reset the algorithm fueling this increase in trafficking

Most advertising is about increasing purchase intent––our goal was the exact opposite.

We outlined four stages to guide us along our data journey.

Inception:

We crafted hypotheses, pinpointed essential data and formats, and set analysis parameters.

Social Data:

We deciphered trends of video content featuring threatened species.

Search data:

We crafted search strings allowing us to precisely gauge the evolving purchase interest in trafficked animals.

Data Modeling:

This helped us quantify the interplay between Social and Search Data, and establish correlation and causality between the two.

The data we gathered revealed that shared social media posts of trafficked wildlife were directly fueling an algorithm that was exacerbating the issue.

To disrupt this algorithm, we created a simple process that anyone could use to reset it.

Along with increased public education about the dangers of illegal wildlife trafficking, it all helped to disrupt the cycle and effect real change.

We proved that not only is data vital to understanding the problem, but when used creatively, it also can be the key to solving the problem. Millions of people took part in the Wild Algorithm Reset, and the results were real and powerful:

12.1 million people re-educated their algorithms

111 million total impressions

A twofold increase in conversations and mentions related to animal trafficking in Brazil

A significant global reduction in searches for purchasing intent: 15% less for monkeys, 6% less for parrots, and 5% less for snakes

A 12% decrease in engagement with social media videos featuring wild animals on Instagram

Heightened public and political awareness led to a series of law enforcement actions