Rainforest Alliance’s Follow the Frog campaign acknowledges that the behavior changes we make as individuals tend to be closely related to our daily lives.In a clever and humorous video (written and directed by Max Joseph), Rainforest Alliance speaks directly to their audience, describing typical family-oriented community-minded environmental actions that will be familiar to many (“you give to charity, you recycle, you drive a Prius, but you use your bike when you can.”) The campaign then acknowledges that you may feel like you should be doing more, that “the world is falling apart and all you’ve been doing is yoga.”
The video is a pitch perfect portrayal of contemporary feelings of apathy and environmental guilt as it takes the viewer on a journey through what you’re not going to do to save the rainforest (i.e. quit your job, trek to the heart of the rainforest, ingratiate yourself with local tribesman, lead a revolution against deforesters to save humanity etc.) The campaign asserts that what you can do is “follow the frog” (i.e. the Rainforest Alliance Certification seal) and change your consumer behavior to make product choices based on the “three pillars of sustainability,” 1) environmental protection, 2) social equity and 3) economic viability.
