A swimming experiment for World Wildlife Fund

Background

Every single day, huge ships dump a toxic sludge of sewage and bilge water into Canada’s marine protected areas. Think of them as national parks, only out at sea and far away from observers. Which is why it’s so easy for ships to dump here: No one can see. And with no one to see, there’s no one to get upset about it. And with no one to get upset about it, there’s no political action.

Challenge
Make Canadians care—to see the damage they normally can’t see—and make them care enough to petition the Federal government to get serious about dumping. To do so, we’d need to bring the problem closer to people. 

Insight
Kids love swimming so much, they’ll swim in just about any body of water.

Creative Idea
We created “Dirty Pool”, a swimming experiment with a dozen kids, six cameras, a pool, and ship sludge. Would the kids try to swim in the sludge? (Hint: No.) If kids wouldn’t swim in it, why should Canada’s wildlife have to live in it?

Results
Early results showed “Dirty Pool” was the top-performing organic campaign for WWF-Canada, outperforming Earth Day, a global initiative with international recognition. The campaign continues through summer 2021.

Collaborators

A huge thanks to Makers, an incredibly talented producer-led organization, who helped make this project a success.