THE CHALLENGE

Ampara Silvestre asked us to create a campaign that would directly address and reduce the influence of social media in fuelling the exotic pet trade. The goal was not just to raise awareness, but to actively combat the normalization and spread of wildlife-as-pet content online—content that, while often legal, plays a major role in creating demand and driving illegal trafficking.

THE STRATEGY

In Brazil, 30+ million wild animals are trafficked every year. Social media plays a growing role in fuelling this illegal market. Our strategy was built on a clear behavioural and cultural insight: cute, humanized wildlife content on Instagram does not just entertain, it creates desire. And desire drives demand.

Research revealed that 37 percent of monkey purchase searches and 18 percent of snake purchase searches are directly influenced by Instagram content. Yet most of these posts are technically legal and widely accepted. We understood that a traditional awareness campaign would not be enough. We needed to work inside the system, using the same dynamics that spread this content to suppress it.

The strategy focused on digitally native audiences, especially Gen Z and Millennials, who shape what becomes popular online. By understanding how they interact—and how algorithms respond—we turned insight into a creative action that challenged the problem at its core

THE EXECUTION

We conducted deep research to identify the most common visual patterns, aesthetics and behaviours in popular wildlife pet content on social media. We used artificial intelligence to simulate over 1,500 posts, recreating the exact type of content that fuels demand. These images were published across 150 newly created Instagram profiles, each built to be reported by users. The more reports, the more the algorithm would learn to deprioritize similar content. 

We launched the campaign through our own social channels and activated a squad of influencers aligned with animal protection causes. They helped amplify the profiles and encouraged their communities to take part. Instagram was chosen as the core platform for its central role in spreading this content and its relevance to the target audience, primarily Gen Z and Millennials. The campaign scaled rapidly, adapting in real time as the algorithm responded, reducing visibility even for real and legal content.

THE OUTCOME

The campaign targeted video content across TikTok and Instagram in both English and Portuguese, focusing on mentions of endangered animals like parrots, monkeys, and snakes. Using tubular, a social video intelligence platform, data was gathered from 10-16 April 2025, with comparisons made to the previous 7 days (2-9 April 2024). 

In just 7 days: 

• 1.500 posts and 150 profiles created were banned and 100% of the profiles created were banned
• 92% decrease in the number of views on wild animal videos*
• 92% decrease in average engagement*
• 95% decrease of total engagement*
• 36% decrease on the volume of mentions* * 2024 vs 2025