Making chocolate fairer!
With the political campaign and the Angry Gorilla chocolate figure, gebana took a stand against the injustices in the chocolate industry. modem conclusa provided strategic communication support, guided the campaign’s messaging, and successfully placed it in print and online media.
With the Angry Gorilla and its campaign website, gebana advocated for a strong EU due diligence law. On www.angry-gorilla.com, users could create and send a personalized postcard featuring the Angry Gorilla. These postcards were sent directly to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urging her to take action.
The cocoa used for the Angry Gorilla comes from gebana Togo, where farming families receive 10% of the sales revenue from gebana’s online shop—in addition to the organic and Fairtrade price. This is an essential step toward securing a living income for cocoa farmers.
The goals of the campaign were to raise awareness of the problems surrounding cocoa, to increase pressure on the political level to bring about change (supply chain law) and to position gebana as a pioneer for fair cocoa and corporate justice.
One of the key communication challenges was linking a political issue with product sales. To address this, modem conclusa pursued two communication approaches and strategically distributed these topics to different target media:
- Communication Path – Product PR: The Angry Gorilla instead of a chocolate easter bunny or santa claus
To draw attention to the product, the Angry Gorilla was sent to 30 selected editorial offices (food, sustainability, women, family) shortly before Easter. Accompanying this, modem conclusa drew attention to the grim-looking ape in a mailing to online media.
- Communication Path – Political Issue: Making chocolate fairer – gebana stands up for a strong EU Due Diligence Legislation in Brussels
Our idea for the campaign launch: a gebana team presents the Angry Gorilla to the European Parliament. During a meeting of the relevant EU Legal Affairs Committee in Brussels, gebana flew the flag for strong EU due diligence legislation in front of the European Parliament building. The parliamentarians were greeted with waving flags featuring grim-looking ‘Angry Gorillas’. On the day of the visit, the announcement was sent to the Brussels correspondents of German media outlets and distributed via news aktuell.
The communication campaign was accompanied by a media partnership with Utopia.de, Germany’s leading and most widely read website for sustainable lifestyles. This enabled us to reach gebana’s target audience (utopia.de has a total of 8.2 million unique users).
The result
Ursula von der Leyen received a total of 2,570 postcards featuring the Angry Gorilla. That means 2,570 times the message: As President of the European Commission, advocate for a comprehensive supply chain law. On 1 June 2023, the EU Parliament clearly approved the planned due diligence law for corporations. The law is now a big step closer and will be negotiated in the so-called trilogue. We will continue to work on this together with gebana – the process will continue in the autumn.
