Congratulations to Marine Connection, a charity that has been working to end the keeping of cetaceans in captivity for almost three decades. Over that time, the charity has had success in stopping wild captures and the establishment of new facilities in various countries.

In December 2019, with support from creative company Communicorp UK, the charity launched a powerful radio ad campaign ‘No Containment for Entertainment’. Over several weeks four adverts, each with a different powerful message, were broadcast on UK radio stations daily – specifically aimed at raising awareness about the plight of dolphins and whales in captivity.

Standing out from the crowd is always a challenge, but one of those Marine Connection campaign adverts –  ‘Jedol & Sampal’ – was recently chosen by Sara Rose, Executive Creative Director for Saachi & Saachi as this month’s winner of the Aerial Awards – which celebrates the very best of British radio advertising and inspiring the listening audience.

Sara Rose says she chose the ad, because “there is a strange spell that comes over us as the clock strikes midnight each year on 31 December.

No, we don’t turn into pumpkins, but we do transform. We see things differently. Our bad habits become challenges to take on, our cynicism is replaced with (or at least makes a little room for) optimism. Twelve chimes from a clock make the world feel new again.

So, it is fitting that this month’s top pick goes to a spot that tackles a long-standing issue in a new light.

Marine Connection looks at the plight of marine mammals in captivity through the lens of another crisis: human trafficking.

OK, so that doesn’t sound like a topic that embraces the positive vibes of a new decade. But the reframing of the experience of animals with that of the most vulnerable humans makes the cause feel as urgent today as it did when the movie Blackfish (the 2013 US-made documentary about a captive killer whale) premiered.

To raise further awareness about dolphins and whales being held purely for entertainment and profit, it is vital that campaigns have an impact; therefore Marine Connection is delighted that their adverts reached so many who may never have known, or understood, the effect that captivity has on these magnificent marine mammals.

If you’d like to hear this award-winning advert – a clever and moving twist on being kidnapped, held as a hostage, and eventually released – please click below:

https://marineconnection.org/no-containment-for-entertainment/