On Sunday, the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles will face off in Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis. But if you’re still not over Deflate-gate, or Eagles’ fans throwing snowballs at Santa, you’re probably more interested in the commercials than the game.

This week, Axios did a quick look back at the most popular Super Bowl ads from the last 30 years. And one of the themes that emerged was that “animals rule.”

In the first 29 years of Ad Meter, 16 of the 30 (53 percent) winning commercials — two ads tied for the top spot in 2011 — featured animals.

Budweiser, perhaps the most prolific Super Bowl advertiser, has led the way — trotting out Clydesdales, puppies and frogs over the years.

It seems odd that conservationists might have something to learn about animals from Budweiser. But with the best of intentions, we conservationists often focus much of our energy on spouting all manner of scary facts about animal species and the threats they are facing — hoping that knowledge will lead to change and too often finding that it doesn’t. Meanwhile, Budweiser and other companies know that animals pluck on consumers’ heart strings, which can make all the difference in getting them to buy a product. So if marketers can brilliantly leverage our emotional ties to animals to craft ads for unhealthy stuff like beer, soda and chips, why can’t we leverage the same approach to sell stuff we need like clean water and healthy forests?

Using animals, and animal mascots, is a proven way to do just that. The most famous example is Smokey Bear, who, for over 70 years, has earnestly reminded us that only we can prevent forest fires.

Recently, researchers from the University of Delaware found that adults “are less likely to pollute when conservation information is presented to them by a mascot. And, they are most likely to make the right choice when it prevents the fuzzy creatures from being sad.”

The Delaware study found that avoiding sadness and disappointment were effective emotional motivators. In our work, we’ve found that the emotion of pride is also an effective motivator, especially when it is tied to a social connection — pride of place, pride of community and pride in tradition. This has been a central pillar of Rare’s signature Pride campaigns, behavior change campaigns designed to inspire communities, municipalities and even nations to take pride in the natural resources and ecosystems that are unique to their home.

Meloy the panther grouper at a Rare Pride campaign launch event in Inabanga, Philippines. (Photo credit: AG Sano)

In the small Filipino municipality of Inabanga, illegal fishing and destructive practices were crippling the marine ecosystem, depleting fish populations, and putting the small town’s main livelihood at risk. We worked with a local leader there, Renante “Tian” Cempron, and his team to create a Pride campaign designed to inspire the community to commit to protecting marine resources and report illegal fishing. At the campaign kickoff, Tian and his team introduced the campaign mascot, Meloy. Meloy is a panther grouper, a species native to the reefs off the coast of the Philippines. Meloy quickly became a local celebrity, helping elevate the campaign and its cause. Meloy also carried with him a cell phone and, leading by example, implored his fellow community members to use theirs to report illegal fishing.

Cucho, a marvelous spatuletail hummingbird, dances in the Raymillacta festival parade. (Photo credit: Rare)

In Peru, Maritza Tovar, a local leader, partnered with Rare to launch a Pride campaign to inspire support for a water sharing agreement between upstream farmers and downstream water users. The campaign featured billboards, stickers, t-shirts, and yes, a mascot — Cucho, a spatuletail hummingbird.

When a particularly prickly downstream mayor refused to support the water fund used to incentivize farmers’ transition to sustainable practices, it was seeing Cucho dancing during a community parade that changed his mind

In my first month at Rare more than seven years ago, I remember our President and CEO, Brett Jenks, telling me and some other colleagues, “You know, people often say to us: ‘Seriously? Puppet shows? Mascots? Cute, fuzzy animals?’ And to that we say, ‘Yes, seriously. Changing people’s minds sometimes means reaching them in unconventional ways, and Rare embraces that.’”

In fact, this belief is behind Rare’s origin. In the late 70s, the St. Lucia parrot was disappearing from the small island nation. Its numbers dwindling and heading toward extinction, a young conservationist from the U.K. named Paul Butler partnered up with the St. Lucia Forestry Department and set out to save it. Paul quickly found that he needed public support. So, he created a parrot mascot, called Jacquot, which helped bring the campaign to life and provided a symbol for the campaign to rally around. It’s a great story, one I encourage you to read in full, but spoiler alert: it worked. The parrot was embraced as a national treasure and today, it is flourishing.

Recently, I visited St. Lucia with Rare’s board of trustees, and during an early morning birding trip, we saw not one but four St. Lucia parrots circling the skies above us. Needless to say, it was among the most moving experiences in my career as a conservationist. This bird — almost a mythical creature to those of us at Rare — was finally right there in flesh and feather. Our hosts at the St. Lucia Forestry Department even expressed concern that the bird is doing so well it would become a pest!

One parrot alighted on a branch not more than 50 feet from where we were standing — the photo you see was captured by none other than Paul Butler’s daughter, Maya, herself a St. Lucian citizen visiting her home county after more than a decade abroad. (Photo credit: Maya Butler)

This Sunday, if the game is a blow out, or you’re just one of the many who are more interested in the commercials, take note of how many feature animals. After the game, ask yourself which ad was your favorite, and what it made you feel (rather than what it made you think). It may become clear that these companies are on to something, and why more conservationists may want to borrow a page from their playbook.

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