A whale of a winner

A dead whale that washed ashore usually ends up getting buried, except for one unusual creature which is a replica made from plastic waste.

The art made by local artist Biboy Royong for environmental group Greenpeace Philippines and displayed in a Naic beach in Cavite on May 11, 2017 during the meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment in Manila won a Gold Lion award for the Innovation-Ambient Outdoor category and a Silver Lion award for Design (Non-commercial Exhibitions & Experiences) category in this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The festival is considered the largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry that held a contest for the best creative advertising.

Royong of Dentsu Jayme Syfu conceptualized the “Dead Whale,” a 73-foot, decomposing blue whale to dramatize plastic pollution. Almost 160 kilos worth of plastic wastes collected from the ocean were used to create the realistic dead whale. White sacks went to the underbelly and its textures, plastic straws and wires to bind the materials together, red sacks for the innards and blood effect, and PET bottles for the baleen teeth.