Social Media and Marketing Case Studies - WSPA

Altruism – WSPA's buy a whale on eBay

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) launched a campaign to buy the life of a whale from Iceland via an eBay auction. Supporters were asked to pay £10 for a certificate which the charity sent to them and which they could then send to the Icelandic ambassador as a protest letter. The money raised would then be offered to the Icelandic government as payment for not killing a whale. The auction’s marketing included banner ads on MySpace and its PR gained an article on the BBC news home page.

The WSPA had been previously using eBay to sell fund-raising teddy bears. The comments section of the site, where buyers can give the seller feedback, was transformed into a political arena by the whale auction. Whereas comments had been “thanks for the nice bear,” the new comments included support for the campaign and allowed like-mined eBay members to find each other. Appealing to altruism enabled the charity to take over a commercial space with a campaigning conversation.

Screenshot: WSPA montage - banner from MySpace (top), auction on EBay (middle) and supportive comments on the seller's eBay profile page (bottom)

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