Dramatic Animal Welfare Institute Campaign Reveals the Truth About Shark Attacks

Sharks very rarely attack humans, though people often fear the aquatic predators due to their portrayal in horror movies like Jaws and The Shallows.

Tampa-based agency PPK for the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C. is flipping the script on those films with a campaign pointing out that when humans and sharks interact, it’s the animal that’s far more likely to be injured.

PPK designed three dramatic posters to draw attention to shark finning, the practice of catching sharks and cutting off their fins for shark fin soup, which is considered a delicacy. The Animal Welfare Institute estimates that 73 million sharks are maimed in this way every year. Because shark meat is worth much less than the fins, the sharks are then thrown back in the water to die from their injuries.

Each haunting poster notes that hunting sharks is not only cruel to the animals but threatens to disturb the balance of the ocean.Animal Welfare Institute / PPK

The posters are black and white with hints of red to represent blood. One shows blood in the water as a shark swims through the open ocean, eyed by the crew of a fishing boat. Another depicts a person holding a spoon to their mouth, which is dripping with blood, and notes that “73 million sharks are bitten by humans each year.” The blood drips down the side of a bowl of shark fin soup and pools on a table in the third image.

All of the posters note that the hunting of sharks is not only cruel to the animals but threatens to disturb the balance of the oceans, since the apex predators are necessary for a healthy ecosystem. Sharks are being hunted faster than they can reproduce, with more than a quarter of shark species considered threatened or endangered.

“Sharks get a bad rap,” PPK creative director and writer Michael Schillig told Adweek. “We set out to prove, in a provocative way, that the deadliest shark attacks are actually carried out by humans.

“Our overall goal of awareness ultimately drives support of the AWI’s efforts to stop shark finning and make the selling of shark fin soup illegal,” he added.