A Jack Black-Voiced Dinosaur Tells The UN “Don’t Choose Extinction” In Powerful Climate Initiative

The much heralded Glasgow Climate Summit begins this Sunday and even ScoMo’s RSVPed to what many are calling humankind’s last chance to seriously tackle climate change.

As a precursor to the hotly (is that the right word?) anticipated global leader talkfest (that includes president Biden on its guest list), the UN Development Programme has released a new campaign urging world leaders to do more on emissions.

The two-and-a-half-minute spot is called “Don’t Choose Extinction” and stars Frankie, a CGI animated dinosaur who delivers a powerful address to the UN General Assembly.

Frankie’s voiced by acting legend Jack Black and even stars actual UN members and officials.

The campaign was created by Activista, Wunderman Thompson Australia, Framestore and Mindpool, “Don’t Choose Extinction“ campaign is designed to engage the world in a drive towards a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

“Listen up, people,” Frankie declares, “I know a thing or two about extinction. Going extinct is a bad thing. And driving yourselves extinct in 70 million years? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Frankie then calls out governments for spending billions of dollars on fossil fuel subsidies and says rebuilding economies after the pandemic offers a chance to do things differently.

A spokesperson for the UN Development Programme said the campaign was designed “to shine a spotlight on fossil fuel subsidies and how they are canceling out significant progress towards ending climate change and are driving inequality by benefiting the rich”.

The ad’s voiced in a variety of languages including Jack Black (English), Eliza Gonzalez (Spanish), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish) and Aissa Maiga (French).

Check out the powerful spot below:

João Braga, chief creative officer at Wunderman Thompson Australia, said: “This behaviour change campaign gave us the largest possible target audience anyone could have. With 7 billion people to speak to and a challenge of this calibre, we needed deep creative thinking from every discipline.

“This digital experience is only just the start of our work with the UNDP to help end the excuses around climate change for good and provide people from all walks of life the understanding and the facts they need to make a difference. We’re even working to take this idea as far as outer-space, by naming real asteroids after these excuses”.

The experience allows users to click into the excuses on the website, each pictured as an asteroid rocketing towards Earth, where they will find information and tools to provide direct action.

The tools, created by Wunderman Thompson Australia, will be rolled out in phases in the coming months and include:

• The Chrome Plugin Thesaurus Rex, designed to help people navigate the terms around fossil fuels online.
• The Voice of Reason, an Alexa skill that disarmingly rebuts every climate change myth or excuse.
• A spin on The Birds and The Bees with an e-book that gives children the arguments they need to convince their parents and peers.

Boaz Paldi, global partnership and engagement manager for United Nations Development Programme, said: “With this initiative, we want to spotlight the climate crisis and at the same time energize the debate about some of the economic solutions that are out there to get us on a path to de-carbonization.

“Addressing fossil fuel subsidies is a critical issue in the fight against climate change. The campaign gives hope that despite the trajectory we seem to be on there is still time to act and solutions to fight for.

“Creativity and technology are two of the necessary tools we need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and move towards a green transition. It’s why we needed the best minds in the industry to partner with us in our journey to make these goals a reality.”

To deliver scale and to amplify the message, UNDP offices across the world in 170 countries will activate the campaign.

This is the first phase of the global advocacy campaign, where Wunderman Thompson Australia will continue to work with the UNDP to launch more initiatives in the coming months.

Credits:

United Nations Development Programme

Director of Advocacy, Marketing and Communications: Anjali Kwatra

Global Engagement & Partnership Manager: Boaz Paldi

Senior Consultant, Creative Strategy: Nick Garrett

Executive Producer: Helen Trickey

Associate Producer, Campaign Advocacy: Rebecca Webb

Associate Producer, Campaign Media: Gabriela Goldman

Wunderman Thompson

Chief Executive Officer: Lee Leggett

Chief Creative Officer: João Braga

Project Lead/Australian Operations Director: Paulina Embart

Associate Creative Director: Jack Elliott

Associate Creative Director: Lochie Newham

Chief Innovation Officer: Martin Beecroft

UX/UI Director: Travis Weerts

Technical Director: Marcus Collier

UX Design: Isabelle Hooper

UI Design: Chris Hyland

Client Engagement: Anna Parker

Client Engagement: Rose Suys

Integrated Production: Emma Donaldson

Creative Director, Content: Brie Stewart

Social Strategist: Annie House

Content Creator: Rhys Delios Callanan

Senior Designer: James Ayling

Content Writer: Richard Kempsey

Digital Production: Danny Coleman

Digital Production: Joe Guario

Illustrator: Andjela Jankovic

Activista

Executive Creative Director: Paco Conde

Executive Creative Director: Beto Fernandez

Director of Strategy: Jon Carlaw

Writer: David Litt (reference to Obama)

Framestore Pictures

Director: Murray Butler

Managing Director: Jennifer Siegel

Head of Production: Anne Vega

Line Producer: Laura Morris

Director of Photography: Wyatt Garfield

Director of Production: Carla Attanasio

Executive Producer: Pete King

Senior Producer: Chris Harlowe

Associate Producer Jose Alvarado

Creative Director: Marco Marenghi

VFX Supervisor: Karch Coons

Lighting Supervisor: Richard Shallcross

Head of 2D: Woei Lee

Compositor Lead: Mark Casey

Tracking Supervisor: Todd Herman

Editorial Supervisor: Jacob Sadowsky

VFX Editor: Dustin Indrebo

Colorist: Beau Leon

Editorial: Cut+Run

Editor: Jon Grover

Editorial Producer: Eytan Gutman

Asst. Editor: Evan Bahnsen

Audio Post Production: String and Tins

Sound Design and Mix: Jim Stewart

Additional Sound Design: Joe Wilkinson

Foley: The Foley Barn

Audio Producer: Olivia Endersby

Music Coordinator: COOL Music

Music by Rachel Portman

Music Programmer: Luke Richards

Mindpool

Anne Sofie Lind

Mik Thobo-Carlsen

Flemming Rasmussen

Antoni Harbuz