Stock Images Campaign To Help Clean Oceans Of Plastic Waste

Mar. 25, 2022

Our oceans are drowning in plastic bags, PET bottles, and packaging. Most of it is invisible to the naked eye, but it finds its way into our food in the form of microplastics - a huge and growing problem in today's consumer society. So much so that the UN Environment Assembly passed a historic resolution in Nairobi in early March to end plastic pollution by the end of 2024. But what happens to the plastic already floating in the ocean? And how do you raise awareness for the problem of microplastics? 

Together with Germany's oldest independent image agency Mauritius, Jung von Matt NECKAR is launching an international campaign to protect the ocean called Clear The Rights, Clear The Ocean. In it, the agency uses one of the most typical elements in the purchase and licensing of stock images to convey a clear message and to introduce a simple, yet unseen mechanic that actively helps. Ocean images in the database are now tagged with a "plasticmark" instead of the usual watermark. This makes the pollution of the ocean with plastic and microplastic visible, and it turns the licensees into environmentalists. Because everyone who clears the rights of an ocean image donates 33 % of the license fee directly to international projects that clean plastic waste out of the ocean for real.

Heide-Marie von Widekind from mauritius images explains:

"The idea that we could simply change our watermarks to help change the world immediately excited us,"

 

Dirk Hibbeler, Managing Director of Jung von Matt NECKAR, adds:

"It was important to us to transfer the heritage of mauritius images into the digital age – with a small but effective lever that conveys an important message, and at the same time contributes to solving a problem in an involving way.” 

 

The CLEAR THE RIGHTS, CLEAR THE OCEAN campaign launches with social media ads targeting journalists, art directors and media designers –  the entire media and marketing industry is invited to support the campaign. All images that help to free the ocean from plastic waste can be found at https://www.mauritius-images.com/en/cleartheocean

The campaign is planned to run for the next three months. 

However, a more sustainable long term impact remains the main goal for Heide Marie of Widekind:

“It would be great if other picture agencies would follow our example. Because in the end, we all benefit from that. And who knows: Maybe CLEAR THE RIGHTS, CLEAR THE OCEAN will be the start of a new licensing model to be established as a standard in our industry."