PR moves for endangered species brands?

From giraffes and tigers on cereals and sweet packets to major French brands such as Peugeot and Lacoste whose logos depict animals (lion, crocodile), cartoonised images of wild animals are everywhere you look in French supermarkets. Now market researchers at the CNRS, France’s national scientific research centre, say firms should be doing more to protect the very species that they ‘exploit’.

Valéry Pothain, an ecologist and CNRS researcher, said that, by showering us with images of animals, companies trick the shopper into believing that the species are still flourishing, when in many cases the opposite is true. His idea is that the firms pay a ‘royalty’ to protect the species.

This spring, Lacoste has launched a collection of polo shirts with its crocodile logo replaced by 10 endangered species, including rhinoceros, lemur and turtle.