SAVE THE RHINO CAMPAIGN
Artist Brett Murray caused a huge media and national stir in South Africa after painting the President, Jacob Zuma, with his penis exposed. The ANC, and Zuma responded with outrage, claiming to be "violated, hurt, and gravely offended". The media coverage spun into a frenzy, with daily updates, front page headlines for weeks and on radio and television all the time. (eventually the painting was defaced causing even more media)
In a country with so many more serious problems we thought if a painted penis could get so much free media, why not hijack it and put it on a more real issue: Rhino Poaching.
In the last year over 200 Rhinos where killed for their horns and we wanted to raise awareness around this issue. So we made our own poster, distributed it online, hung it outside the gallery and in the streets, until eventually the people protesting against the Zuma painting also decided to rip ours down and burn it in the streets. It was trending and spread all over the internet in its various forms until Facebook banned it too.
You probably have to be South African to understand this entirely :-)
In a country with so many more serious problems we thought if a painted penis could get so much free media, why not hijack it and put it on a more real issue: Rhino Poaching.
In the last year over 200 Rhinos where killed for their horns and we wanted to raise awareness around this issue. So we made our own poster, distributed it online, hung it outside the gallery and in the streets, until eventually the people protesting against the Zuma painting also decided to rip ours down and burn it in the streets. It was trending and spread all over the internet in its various forms until Facebook banned it too.
You probably have to be South African to understand this entirely :-)
