14 April 2009
48,000 eggs thrown in Divine’s Egg a Politician G20 viral campaign
...and a further 2,000 fair trade supporters went on to send call for action messages to G20 politicians
A total of 48,631 eggs were thrown and a further 2018 e-postcards have been sent to G20 politicians by supporters of Divine Chocolate’s online game in a bid to keep fair trade on the G20 agenda. The Egg a Politician online game was created by Divine Chocolate, the leading Fairtrade company co-owned by cocoa farmers, and links Divine’s mission for fairer trade and promotion of its delicious chocolate Easter egg range. The Egg a Politican site, which was devised by fellow social enterprise St Luke’s, has received 7,000 unique users to date, since launching last Thursday, 26th March.
The overwhelmingly successful response to Divine’s viral campaign demonstrates the extent to which the general public supports Divine’s quest for fairer trading practices across the world. Players are invited to throw a chocolate egg at one of five of leaders who attended the G20 summit. The chosen leader eats it with relish, and you then have the opportunity to send an email to the G20 summit reminding members not to let trade slip off the agenda, and keep up the momentum to ensure fairer trade opportunities for Africa.
With a total of 15,587 ‘hits’, Gordon Brown was the most popular target. Nicolas Sarkozy came second, with 10,862 people choosing him to fight for fairer trading practices. President Obama received 8,504 eggs, followed by Hu Jintao of China (7,567) and Manmohan Singh of India (6,020).
Of a current total of 7,000 visitors to the site, 5,000 were from the UK, with a further 1,000 from the US, and a remaining 1,000 hits from across the globe. Twitterers have been vocal in their support of the campaign – visit Twitter. Hundreds of bloggers have also picked up on the campaign and been active in their support along with online trade, consumer and religious publications. Real Business online writes, “Divine Chocolate has devised a cunning online game…When your virtual egg is gobbled up by one of the bigwig leaders, you get the chance to register your support for fair trade…Go on, give it your best shot”. The Green Parent magazine says, “Egg on your favourite politician with this fun game from Divine Chocolate.
Over the last 10 years Divine has given consumers the opportunity to make change happen while enjoying delicious chocolate. This game offers another opportunity to have a voice on fair trade and to have fun too.
“If Africa is to escape poverty, African producers and farmers need a fair opportunity to trade on world markets at a fair price,” says Divine Head of Communications Charlotte Borger. “Just a 1% increase in trade from Africa would be equivalent of five times the amount of aid the continent currently receives.”
It wasn’t possible to include all the leaders attending the summit in the game so five were chosen to represent a geographical spread, as well as differing track records on supporting fair trade.
Divine is a pioneer in the Fairtrade market. As well as being 100% Fairtrade, it is 45% owned by the Kuapa Kokoo farmers’ cooperative in Ghana and has proved that paying a fair price for their cocoa and sharing the profits does more than create a sustainable future for a few – it is a model that works on a major scale. There is nothing to stop global companies doing the same, and the leading nations demanding it. Consumers have an appetite for change – and a fairer world.
The game will be followed by Easter advertising in the national press which will have a copyline linking it back to the viral campaign.
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Please contact Charlotte Borger or Rosanna Mayhew on 0207 378 6550 for more information.
Further information
• For more details about the Divine range of Fairtrade chocolate and the story of Divine and Kuapa Kokoo visit Divine Chocolate.
• For sales and stockist enquiries contact Alistair or find more details on Divine Chocolate.
• Divine Chocolate Ltd is co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana who grow the Fairtrade beans for Divine and Dubble, and who share in the profits.
• All Divine products carry the Fairtrade Mark. This is an independent guarantee certified by the Fairtrade Foundation that the ingredients are sourced under internationally agreed fair trade terms and conditions. These include a guaranteed, secure minimum price, an extra social premium payment for the farmers to invest in their own community programmes, long term trading contracts, decent health and safety conditions – all aimed at empowering farmers to make their own improvements to living standards and prospects for the future.
• About St. Luke’s
St. Luke’s is an independent co-owned communications agency, its clients include Scottish & Newcastle: Strongbow and Jacques Cider; Ikea global; Magic 105.4; Filofax; Divine Fairtrade Chocolate; The School of Life; eHarmony, My-Wardrobe.com and Mills & Boon.