Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The day we bombed Wellington.

An international conference was being held in Wellington, New Zealand's capital, to ratify a treaty that would ban cluster bombs. They had to get New Zealanders to oppose a weapon they had never heard of. They flew above Wellington and performed the most literal mail drop ever, letting loose 30,000 bomb-shaped leaflets out of a plane. The leaflets were also petitions addressed to the New Zealand Minister of Defence. People signed the leaflets and sent them in to show their support. 34% of the leaflets were signed and sent in. The event gained coverage on 3 News, New Zealand's most-watched news programme, and the Dominion Post, the capital's leading daily newspaper. But most importantly, the treaty was signed. After being ratified in New Zealand, the delegates took the treaty to Dublin, then Oslo. And the campaign went with them. There is now a worldwide ban on the manufacture and use of cluster bombs.

Agency: DraftFCB Auckland, New Zealand.