World Wildlife Fund set up shop to highlight ivory trade

This week, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Singapore set up a hoax ivory store to open the public’s eyes to the enormity of the ivory trade problem in Asia.

On the ‘Ivory Lane’ site shoppers could seemingly purchase everything from ivory bracelets to ivory sunglasses with the website claiming they were “a secret desire for most girls”.

The initial public shock sparked heated debates on social media with  users taking to their keyboards in outrage over the weekend.

Whilst the response was mostly negative, one shopper claimed the collection offered “high quality and lovely products” (despite the fact they never existed) and another claimed the products were “beautiful”.

Following comments from the public pointing out how the sale of ivory is illegal, WWF highlighted the existing loophole in current ivory legislation as, posing as “Ivory Lane” said “The import and export of elephant ivory has been banned internationally since 1990. Ivory Lane does not import any new ivory into Singapore and all our ivory products are made of vintage ivory, before 1990.”

After amassing hundreds of complaints from users the charity finally revealed that the shop was fake by issuing a statement saying “Though the brand may be fictional, the issues highlighted are real”.

They went on to thank the public for their outcry along with a call to action to support the efforts to eradicate ivory selling altogether.

The stunt generated global coverage – with major news organisations, including the BBC, covering the story.

@rachelsbryant

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