Jackie Chan, one of China’s best-known film stars, became the face of a high-profile campaign in 2017 aimed at reducing demand for pangolin products and helping protect one of the world’s most trafficked mammals. The campaign, called “Kung Fu Pangolin”, used Chan’s martial-arts image to deliver a simple message to consumers in China and Vietnam, where pangolin meat and scales had been in demand. In the 47-second public-service advertisement, Chan tries to teach pangolins kung fu so they can defend themselves against poachers, only to discover that the animals respond to danger by curling into protective balls. Produced by WildAid with The Nature Conservancy, the campaign urged people not to buy pangolin products and highlighted how consumer demand can fuel the illegal wildlife trade.
Jackie Chan took on a new fight to save pangolins
Jackie Chan’s role in the campaign was to use his enormous popularity to bring attention to an animal that was far less familiar to the public than tigers, elephants or rhinos. In the “Kung Fu Pangolin” advertisement, the martial-arts star attempts to train pangolins to defend themselves against poachers, but the animals repeatedly curl into balls when threatened. The humorous idea was built around a serious fact about pangolins. Their natural defence against predators is to roll themselves into a tight ball, but this offers little protection when humans can simply pick them up and transport them. The campaign was created by WildAid and The Nature Conservancy, with the China Wildlife Conservation Association also involved, and was designed to discourage consumers from buying pangolin meat and scales. Chan’s celebrity status gave the campaign access to a mass audience and helped turn pangolin trafficking into a more visible public issue.
Why pangolins became one of the world’s most trafficked mammals
Pangolins have been heavily targeted by illegal wildlife traders because of demand for their meat and scales. Their scales are made of keratin, the same protein found in human fingernails and hair, but they have historically been used in traditional medicine based on claims that are not supported by modern scientific evidence. Pangolin meat has also been consumed as food in some markets. The combination of these demands has made pangolins a valuable target for poachers and traffickers. All eight pangolin species are threatened, although their individual conservation classifications vary, with some listed as Critically Endangered and others as Endangered or Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The animals are particularly vulnerable to hunting because they are slow-moving and rely on curling into a ball rather than fleeing when confronted. Once captured, they can be transported relatively easily, making them attractive targets for illegal wildlife traders.The scale of the trade prompted international action. At the 2016 Conference of the Parties to CITES, all eight pangolin species were transferred to Appendix I, the convention’s highest level of protection. The listing, which took effect in January 2017, prohibited international commercial trade in wild pangolins and their parts. However, the measure did not automatically eliminate illegal trafficking or domestic markets, making demand reduction an important part of the wider conservation response.
How the Kung Fu Pangolin campaign reached China
WildAid did not rely only on the online video featuring Chan. The organisation distributed the campaign through a large outdoor advertising network in China, placing the message on more than 100,000 screens across 37 cities. Billboards and other public advertisements were also used to reinforce the campaign. WildAid reported that the campaign’s social-media content generated millions of views, while donated media support helped extend its reach across major population centres. The strategy was designed to put pangolin conservation in front of ordinary consumers rather than limiting the message to wildlife enthusiasts.The campaign was part of WildAid’s broader effort to reduce demand for wildlife products in China and Vietnam. Its philosophy was that stopping illegal wildlife trafficking requires more than catching poachers and intercepting shipments. If consumers continue to purchase products made from threatened animals, there remains a financial incentive to capture and transport them. WildAid therefore sought to make wildlife consumption socially undesirable while explaining the consequences for endangered species. Chan’s involvement was especially useful because the campaign could use humour and his martial-arts persona to communicate the message without relying on technical conservation language.
Did Jackie Chan’s campaign change attitudes towards pangolin products?
There were indications that demand-reduction campaigns were changing public perceptions, although the available evidence does not prove that the Jackie Chan advertisement alone reduced the illegal pangolin trade. WildAid reported that the proportion of surveyed Chinese respondents who believed pangolin scales had medicinal value fell from 70% in 2015 to 50% in 2017, around the period when its pangolin demand-reduction campaign was being conducted. The organisation also commissioned research into reactions to the Jackie Chan advertisement, with respondents reporting that the PSA made them less likely to purchase pangolin products. These findings are useful evidence of changing attitudes, but they measure perceptions and self-reported intentions rather than actual purchases or trafficking volumes.That distinction is important when assessing celebrity conservation campaigns. A successful advertisement can raise awareness and make consumers reconsider their behaviour, but it cannot by itself stop poaching networks or guarantee that wildlife products disappear from illegal markets. Pangolin conservation requires enforcement, habitat protection, international cooperation and long-term reductions in consumer demand. Chan’s contribution was therefore primarily in communication and public engagement rather than direct wildlife protection.
China strengthened pangolin protection after the campaign
The campaign formed part of a broader period of change in pangolin conservation. China strengthened its domestic protection of pangolins in 2020, when all pangolin species in the country were upgraded from second-class to first-class nationally protected wild animals. The move provided the animals with stronger legal protection and reflected growing concern over their conservation status and illegal exploitation. China also introduced additional measures aimed at restricting the use and trade of pangolin products.The international and domestic measures complemented campaigns aimed at changing consumer behaviour. CITES restrictions addressed international commercial trade, Chinese law strengthened domestic protection, and organisations such as WildAid worked to reduce demand. Together, these approaches recognised that trafficking cannot be addressed effectively through enforcement alone if there is still a market for the products.Pangolins, meanwhile, remain under pressure despite these interventions. Illegal trafficking continues to pose a major threat, and seizures of pangolin scales have been reported in different parts of the world even after international trade restrictions were strengthened. Conservationists therefore continue to emphasise the need for enforcement, protection of wild populations and sustained efforts to discourage people from buying pangolin products. Chan’s campaign did not end the trade, but it helped bring the issue to a much larger audience.The lasting significance of “Kung Fu Pangolin” is the way it turned a complicated wildlife-trafficking problem into an easily understood message. Jackie Chan did not single-handedly save the pangolin, nor can the campaign be credited with ending the illegal trade. Its value was in using one of China’s most recognisable celebrities to challenge the perceived value of pangolin products and connect consumer choices with the survival of a threatened group of mammals. The campaign showed how celebrity influence can complement scientific research, international agreements and government enforcement by tackling another critical part of the problem, the demand that keeps illegal wildlife markets profitable.