BITE Insight

How often do you check the ingredient list on the back of food in the supermarket? And how often do you really think about where those ingredients have come from? It is all too easy to detach our consumption from the production of food, especially when it’s happening miles away from many of our homes.

But what of the animals whose lives are at risk as a result of this mass production? For their latest campaign, Greenpeace worked with Mother London on a 90-minute animated film that tells the story of Rang-tan, a young orangutan. The video places the spotlight on the manufacture of palm oil which is resulting in the devastation of the Indonesian rainforest and of orangutans’ natural habitat.

Voiced by the actor Emma Thompson, the video plays off the bemusement the little girl feels at having a wild animal in her habitat and then flips it round to powerfully show Rang-tan’s reality. The use of hand-drawn animation is a trend that helps hard-hitting messages to be delivered in an accessible and relatable way.

In just 16 years, half the orangutan population has been wiped out, meaning that these much-loved creatures are drawing ever closer to extinction. It comes as no surprise when you realise that around half of the products in our supermarkets contain palm oil, from shampoo to chocolate. This campaign is designed to inspire the next wave of activists and to raise awareness of the issue with new audiences, inspiring them to force brands to make a change.