This series has an animal theme and was launched in France by Seita which is the leading producer, distributor and marketer of tobacco products in France. Seita formerly operated as a French government tobacco monopoly. Although it is not a particularly old series, about half a century ago, it has significant collector value because it was released in a relatively small edition and the matches are very beautiful with a special and very nice illustration.
These matchboxes on the back were marked “World Wildlife Fund”, the initials of these words corresponding to the international non-governmental organization WWF which aims to preserve, research and restore the environment.
WWF’s iconic phrase is the quote from one of its founders, Sir Peter Scott: “We won’t save everything we want to, but we’ll save a lot more than if we never tried.” He is also the creator of the WWF logo which is the panda, and of course it is also on the back of matchboxes.
WWF has been accused by various quarters of not acting objectively because of its close relationships with businesses. What is certain is that in his annual reports he “succeeds” in finding words to describe the causes of the degradation of the natural environment and biodiversity, and it is usually man or humanity or civilization! But it never succeeds in naming the socio-economic-political system in which we live as a causal agent of the ecological problem, so it can be seen as preventing us from seeing the true nature of the problem.