Going, Going, Gone - Stop Ivory | Clapboard Ad Archive

Going, Going, Gone by Stop Ivory, created by JWT in 2018 for the UK public service sector, delivers a stark and urgent portrayal of the ongoing crisis in elephant poaching driven by the ivory trade. This campaign exposes the brutal reality that an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its tusks, despite international bans that are undermined by legal loopholes in several countries, enabling a parallel illicit market. By focusing on this tension between the supposed legality of some ivory trade and the devastating impact on elephant populations, the campaign highlights the conflicting signals sent by weak enforcement and policy gaps. It frames Stop Ivory as a critical advocate in closing these loopholes and protecting African elephants from extinction, underscoring the UK’s leadership in proposing tougher ivory trade legislation and calling on Europe to follow suit. What Clapboard’s taxonomy would classify as FORMAT#2—Show the Problem, this film-based execution anchors its narrative in a grim reality before positioning Stop Ivory’s campaign as the solution, creating a compelling emotional and rational call to action. The campaign’s use of film leverages the medium’s capacity to convey urgency and empathy, mobilizing public opinion and political will to stem the flow of illegal ivory. By illustrating the scale and immediacy of the crisis, it presses viewers to support legislative change and enforcement to stop the killing before the African elephant is lost forever. The campaign earns 63/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. Going, Going, Gone matters because it demonstrates how public interest campaigns can harness direct, problem-driven storytelling to influence policy debates and galvanize collective action in conservation.