Se não é livre, eu não curto: Ibama against wildlife trafficking

A Datafolha survey, supported by WWF-Brazil, found that 54.2 million Brazilians had or wanted to have a wild animal at home. Among those interested, 80% said they wanted the animal because it gets likes on social media. Wildlife trafficking thrives on this demand. Ibama, Brazil's federal environmental enforcement agency, needed to reach a young audience that often cannot tell wild animals from domestic ones, and show that love is not captivity.

We started from a simple idea: the act of liking also sustains the market. The campaign, signed "Se não é livre, eu não curto" (If it's not free, I don't like it), asked people to change how they interact with this kind of content. Instead of following animals forced to act like people, dressed up and posing for the camera, the invitation was to stop liking and get to know the animal in the wild.

We followed three guidelines from the brief: do not humanize the animals, do not use the word pet and do not open the door to legal ownership. Hand-drawn illustrations, combined with elements created with artificial intelligence, show in an emotional tone what these tricks hide: coercion, stress and violence. Birds, primates and reptiles got their own cards and carousels.

The videos and reels show the species' natural behavior and what they lose outside their habitat. The campaign also pointed to voluntary surrender, with no fine, and to the official reporting channels. Two radio spots, the press release for partners and banners for the Ibama and WWF-Brazil websites completed the package.

In four weeks, the 18 posts reached 1,017,744 organic views, 56,567 interactions, 1,093 saves and 395 new followers for Ibama's profile. The posts showing the animals' real condition drew the most engagement.