Pet project for animal rights
Six university students put their marketing and corporate communication skills to use in organising a pet photo and video competition for local animal-lovers.
As part of their final year project, the six marketing communication students from the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong collaborated with the Lamma Animal Welfare Centre (LAWC) and iPETChannel.com to raise awareness of animal protection.
Sponsored by Canon, the 'Memorable Moments' Pet Video and Photo Competition is open to all pet owners in the city. Participants have to upload a photo or one-minute video of their pets onto iPETChannel.com.
By capturing pets' funny antics, it is hoped that the works will remind people of the innocence of animals and the importance of protecting them.
The students are all keen advocates of animal rights and are basing their graduation projects on the issue.
'To fulfil the requirements of the project, we have to incorporate elements of community service and corporate communication into our work. Given that we are all animal-lovers, we decided to organise a competition about animals to make people aware of the importance of responsible pet ownership,' said Wendy Yuen Wai-yin.
'Many animals are abandoned by their owners every month. Having grown tired of their pets or overwhelmed by the responsibility, some owners give up on the animals.
'We want to make people aware that keeping a pet is a life-long commitment,' she said.
In securing sponsors for the competition and contacting the animal welfare group, the student organisers learned how media organisations go about their work in the real world.
'We learned so much as we had to do a lot of liaison work with different organisations. It's really an enriching experience,' said Li Chi-ka, another organiser.
Pet owners have to make a donation of HK$50 for each competition entry. Winners in the photo and video sections will earn digital photographic equipment donated by Canon. The proceeds from the competition will go to help LAWC find homes for abandoned animals.
The deadline for entries is April 25.
