{"id":3858,"date":"2011-08-22T00:22:49","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T22:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/08\/did-woolworths-%e2%80%98poach%e2%80%99-poaching-video\/"},"modified":"2011-08-22T00:22:49","modified_gmt":"2011-08-21T22:22:49","slug":"did-woolworths-%e2%80%98poach%e2%80%99-poaching-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/did-woolworths-%e2%80%98poach%e2%80%99-poaching-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Woolworths \u2018Poach\u2019 Poaching Video?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The delicate balancing act between showcasing the horrors of Rhino poaching and the need to \u2018shock\u2019 people into sitting up and take notice of the plight of Rhino\u2019s in South Africa often leads people to trample over the rights of others in a misguided attempt to profit off of the situation. Often legitimate owners of copyrighted material are \u2018coerced\u2019 into \u2018donating\u2019 video and images that they do not want to make public owing to the shocking horror of said images or video.<\/p>\n

Trampling on the rights of legal copyright holders and hitching one\u2019s respected brand to such an action is NOT what one would expect of retailers such as Woolworths or extreme adventurer, conservationist, Woolworths MyPlanet Ambassador and 50\/50 presenter, Braam Malherbe. Both of which can boast of long experience with creative people and their rights over copyrighted content.<\/p>\n

On 11 February 2011 local videographer Rainer Schimpf accompanied by local photographer Mike Holmes raced to the Kariega Game Reserve to document the aftermath of a horrific attack and de-horning of a White Rhino. (See: Can You Even Begin to Imagine This Rhino\u2019s Pain?<\/a><\/em>)<\/p>\n

Much debate ensued about the future use of this horrific footage and eventually it was released for extremely limited use by Carte Blanche and a portion of the footage was donated to the Wilderness Foundation. Rainer explains; \u201cIt was my free decision to do so based on the fact that those two 2 institutions give wide support to Rhino conservation. Due to the delicate nature of the footage I decided that it must not be used recklessly by any other institution nor NGO since abuse of the message and misrepresentation was likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

An edited and low resolution version of the HD video was published on YouTube by Schimpf.<\/p>\n

During March 2011 an approach by Woolworths MyPlanet Ambassador Malherbe to use the HD footage was refused.<\/p>\n

The Wilderness Foundation used the low resolution footage to publicise their petition against Rhino poaching. See: Forever Wild \u2013 Save the Rhino<\/a> and, as an ethical organisation with deep Port Elizabeth roots, agreed to refer any queries about use of the footage to Schimpf.<\/p>\n

So, we now have one Port Elizabeth organisation and one PE individual fighting to protect the Rhino when along comes Woolworths and Braam Malherbe who set up a Facebook site to promote the Woolworths \u2018Save the Rhino\u2019s with MyPlanet\u2019 initiative. Basically this initiative hinges on shoppers applying for a card and choosing the EWT MyPlanet Rhino Fund as their charity of choice. Every swipe of the card in a Woolies store and other nationwide partners, results in an \u201cup to 1%\u201d donation of the value of the purchases towards rhino conservation!<\/p>\n

We will reserve any discussion on the vague \u201cup to 1%\u201d donation computation.<\/p>\n

Crucial to this Facebook campaign was the display of an edited and unauthorised display of Rainer Schimpf\u2019s video of the Kariega Rhino taken on 11 February 2011. Links to this video were readily shared by the creators of and visitors to this page.<\/p>\n

Long story short:<\/strong><\/p>\n