Greenpeace UK are using Augmented Reality (AR) technology to campaign against the major players in the UK’s industrial pork supply chain.
The charity launched the SOW project which saw a giant AR pig placed on multiple buildings in London, including DEFRA and Barclays HQ .
Three of the six buildings in the project are in London: the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Barclays Global HQ, and a Tesco Superstore.
SOW, named after a female pig, was designed to appear “lethargic and exhausted […] to reflect the animal’s mistreatment,” said Lead Visual artist on the project Naho Matsuda.
AR pig on top of DEFRA building in Westminster – CREDIT: GREENPEACE
‘The project became digital to limit its environmental cost’
Matsuda collaborated with digital artist Luigi Honorat on the AR project, which was initially proposed to Greenpeace as a physical sculpture.
However, negotiations on the transport and resources proposed for use meant “the project became digital to limit its environmental cost,” said Honorat.
AR came to prominence with the viral game Pokémon Go in 2016 which saw virtual game characters through a phone.
Since then, technological advancements have allowed it to be used in a diverse set of outputs such as advertising and campaigning.
Commercial advertising projects that use AR have already gained traction this year, such as the JD Sports campaign which put a North face puffer jacket on Big Ben earlier this year.
SOW project artists Matsuda and Honorat say the use of AR for both commercial and non-profit making projects will continue to grow. They agreed that they expect the use in the commercial sector to grow faster due to their resources.
‘Scaling up is the problem’
Honorat emphasised the project’s desire to scale up, but said the resources available to the team were limited as it was just him and Matsuda working on the project.
SOW pig on a Tesco in Hackney, London – CREDIT: GREENPEACE
Also, with the project being location-specific, the ability for people outside of London and the Northwest the project is largely inaccessible.
However, the accompanying campaign online allows for those outside the areas surrounding the locations are still able to witness the digital stunt albeit from a distance.
‘Technological advancements will drive the supply of AR campaigns’
The tools available to create these AR pieces are rapidly advancing. Honorat claimed that “this project would not have been possible a year ago”.
He now uses Google’s Visual Positioning System (VPS), which compares visual data from smartphones to Google Street data to allow AR objects to be more precisely placed.
A picture is taken of a digital pig on Barclays HQ in Canary Wharf, London – CREDIT: GREENPEACE
‘AR technology will be effective for campaigning’
PhD candidate at the University of Washington Rafael Silva, who studies the use of technology for civic participation, predicts that AR campaigns can “increase the effectiveness of campaigns.” He said this could drive the demand from corporations to use these techniques in the future.
Mr Silva expects interactive AR campaigns to be commonplace in the future due to their success.
But experts say the tools necessary to create these projects will need to become more financially accessible before they become more common.
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HeadlineGreenpeace use Augmented Reality to place giant pig on Barclays HQ
Short HeadlineGreenpeace place digital pig on Barclays HQ
StandfirstClimate advocacy charity place digital pig on London HQs to campaign against unsustainability in the UK's pork supply chain
Greenpeace UK are using Augmented Reality (AR) technology to campaign against the major players in the UK’s industrial pork supply chain.
The charity launched the SOW project which saw a giant AR pig placed on multiple buildings in London, including DEFRA and Barclays HQ .
Three of the six buildings in the project are in London: the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Barclays Global HQ, and a Tesco Superstore.
SOW, named after a female pig, was designed to appear “lethargic and exhausted […] to reflect the animal’s mistreatment,” said Lead Visual artist on the project Naho Matsuda.
AR pig on top of DEFRA building in Westminster – CREDIT: GREENPEACE
‘The project became digital to limit its environmental cost’
Matsuda collaborated with digital artist Luigi Honorat on the AR project, which was initially proposed to Greenpeace as a physical sculpture.
However, negotiations on the transport and resources proposed for use meant “the project became digital to limit its environmental cost,” said Honorat.
AR came to prominence with the viral game Pokémon Go in 2016 which saw virtual game characters through a phone.
Since then, technological advancements have allowed it to be used in a diverse set of outputs such as advertising and campaigning.
Commercial advertising projects that use AR have already gained traction this year, such as the JD Sports campaign which put a North face puffer jacket on Big Ben earlier this year.
SOW project artists Matsuda and Honorat say the use of AR for both commercial and non-profit making projects will continue to grow. They agreed that they expect the use in the commercial sector to grow faster due to their resources.
‘Scaling up is the problem’
Honorat emphasised the project’s desire to scale up, but said the resources available to the team were limited as it was just him and Matsuda working on the project.
SOW pig on a Tesco in Hackney, London – CREDIT: GREENPEACE
Also, with the project being location-specific, the ability for people outside of London and the Northwest the project is largely inaccessible.
However, the accompanying campaign online allows for those outside the areas surrounding the locations are still able to witness the digital stunt albeit from a distance.
‘Technological advancements will drive the supply of AR campaigns’
The tools available to create these AR pieces are rapidly advancing. Honorat claimed that “this project would not have been possible a year ago”.
He now uses Google’s Visual Positioning System (VPS), which compares visual data from smartphones to Google Street data to allow AR objects to be more precisely placed.
A picture is taken of a digital pig on Barclays HQ in Canary Wharf, London – CREDIT: GREENPEACE
‘AR technology will be effective for campaigning’
PhD candidate at the University of Washington Rafael Silva, who studies the use of technology for civic participation, predicts that AR campaigns can “increase the effectiveness of campaigns.” He said this could drive the demand from corporations to use these techniques in the future.
Mr Silva expects interactive AR campaigns to be commonplace in the future due to their success.
But experts say the tools necessary to create these projects will need to become more financially accessible before they become more common.
