Maxis project highlights plight of 'endangered Malaysians'

Ensemble Worldwide and Malaysian telco Maxis have launched 'The Endangered Malaysians', a month-long campaign coinciding with the nation's Merdeka Day holiday tomorrow.

The campaign aims to highlight the plight of endangered Malaysian megafauna: tapirs, tigers, orangutans, elephants, guars, sambar deer and river terrapin.

The company sent three professional photographers into Taman Negara national park on a quest to photograph these creatures, as shown in the seven-minute documentary above.

Spoiler alert:

They failed. Thus proving the point. A campaign website contains photos of the creatures, but they were taken at conservation centres.

The campaign involved the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) and photographers David Lok, Kenny Loh and Nana Safiana, as well as a wildlife photography consultant, Sanjitpaal Singh. Production was by Mojo Films and Studio DL in collaboration with Huawei.

Maxis will donate RM1 (US$0.24) to PERHILITAN for each social-media pledge in support of the animals using the hashtag #KitaRakyatMalaysia ("We are all Malaysians"). The campaign runs until Malaysia Day on 16 September and also includes an activation event at the IPC Shopping Centre, Damansara, from 24 August through 2 September.

Here's a comment from Tai Kam Leong, Maxis' head of brand and partnerships:

The use of technology to humanise the endangered animals that share our land is such a simple idea by the Ensemble team, but so very powerful. After all, they are Malaysian too, and we know that whenever another Malaysian is in need, all Malaysians will unite as one to help. More importantly, we wanted to highlight the seriousness of population decline. But there is hope, and this is what we’ve seen at conservation centres across the nation.

It goes without saying that as a woodland creature, Ad Nut is in favour of conserving the habitats of woodland creatures. However, why is it always the large animals that get all the attention? It would be nice to see the value of some more diminutive but nonetheless vulnerable species get some acknowledgement. To cite some completely random examples, what about the black giant squirrel or the black-striped squirrel? For that matter, how about our many non-mammal friends, all of whom play important roles?

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.