Non-Profit Communication

Who can ever imagine that an innocent hamster could under some circumstances become a monster? The Impossible Hamster Club suggests a really interesting and well done animation:

They used a hamster as a metaphor for economic growth to increase public awareness crazy consumption and really gross domestic product:

“We wanted to confront people with the meaning and logical conclusion of the promise of endless economic growth. We used a hamster to illustrate what would happen if there were no limits to growth because they double in size each week before reaching maturity at around 6 weeks. But if a hamster grew at the same rate until its first birthday, wed be looking at a nine billion tonne hamster, which ate more than a years worth of world maize production every day. There are reasons in nature, why things dont grow indefinitely. As things are in nature, sooner or later, so they must be in the economy. As economic growth rises, we are pushing the planet ever closer to, and beyond some very real environmental limits. With every doubling in the global economy we use the equivalent in resources of all of the previous doublings combined.” (Source: osocio.org)

I think that it is a really good communication campaign due to several factors. First, they took a common animal, which is adorable and inoffensive in public opinion. Secondly, they based their display on scientific arguments and logical demonstration. Third, they created a simple and funny animation, with a cute hamster transformed in a « Hamsterzilla ». This animation, with a wink at the famous movie Godzilla, allows them to reach and attract a large audience attention trough cultural memories and logical demonstration.