Hasta La Creative!

For most people, refugees children are just a news headline. These children, however, used to have lives similar to ours. Their toys can attest to that.
People cannot identify with what they haven’t experienced. Refugee children are nothing but a headline for some and a statistic for others. We want to humanize them, which is only possible by sharing their stories. Toys will come to life on the doorsteps of different landmarks in New York City., reporting tales of a happier time prior to the war with their owners.

No More Black Targets is a collective of artists, diverse in backgrounds, ethnicities and nationalities, working in paint, digital media, pattern making and also physical installations to bring new artwork to life. The collective stand for “More paint. Less hate.” Launching during Black History Month in partnership with the New York Society for Ethical Culture and FRED & FARID #NoMoreBlackTargets is an artistic project to raise awareness of the danger of unconscious bias and how it may be perpetuating gun violence against young black males.

In America, this violence against young black males is surging. For some reason, young black men are 3X more likely to be shot by trained shooters than their white peers. A disturbing potential correlation: The most popular target for shooters to learn to use their firearm is a black silhouette. This correlation was reinforced by an academic study featured by NPR, and published by Yara Mekawi and Konrad Bresin of the University of Illinois who studied trigger bias to examine whether race affects how likely a target is to be shot. This art project seeks to eliminate the use of the most popular target for shooters to learn to use their firearm: a menacing black silhouette. In shooting ranges, in permitting and instruction environments, anywhere someone is learning to use a firearm.

The artists painted over the “human black silhouette” the most popular target for shooters to learn their firearm with artistic interpretations that turn the menacing black targets into beautiful, colorful, and optimistic art.

Illegal wildlife trafficking has prevailed for centuries and today reaches an estimated market value of $19 billion USD (source: Havocscope). The demand for aphrodisiacs containing these ingredients is one of the drivers of this trade and has clearly led to the poaching of endangered animals and plants, many of which risk extinction.
China is a significant consumer of these aphrodisiacs, the ingredients for which are sourced from all over the world. Hong Kong is no exception either, with both its own local demand and as a gateway to China.
The Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development became aware of the demand for its own wildlife species and wanted to stop this illegal activity. So they turned to Geometry Global Colombia, their partner agency since 2014. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, WildBond Hong Kong, a conservation group dedicated to protecting endangered species, was looking for ways to reduce the demand for wildlife aphrodisiac products.
Geometry Colombia and Hong Kong decided to take on this and took a novel approach. Instead of trying to change the behavior of the poachers, they would change the behavior of the consumers by subtly redirecting them towards sustainable and environmentally friendly products.
And Colombia has the perfect sustainable ingredient: the Chontaduro fruit, known as “Nature’s Viagra,” is believed to have powerful aphrodisiac powers and has been used for centuries by the Afro-Colombian communities of the Pacific Coast of Colombia.
Bringing in the expertise of Geometry’s two offices, Geometry Global embarked on a complex project to invent new products with this fruit and create a new brand that would appeal to the Chinese buyer of erotic merchandise and aphrodisiacs. Hong Kong team transcreated the original myth of Colombian fruit for the Chinese audience, explored the channels and the trade, led brand identity and packaging design, and identified the best possible formulations needed for these channels.
Multiple products were developed including massage oil, candles, and an energy drink, and marketed under a provocative Chinese brand name (She Shou Tao, or “Orgasmic Peach”) with a compelling package design to suit this unique sales channel.
The products are available in select adult shops and massage parlors in Shenzhen, China. To date, 500 kilos of chontaduro have been used to produce massage oil (sold 3500 bottles), candles (sold 800 units), and an energy drink (sold 3,000 bottles).