Several large corporations must have been sharing notes
recently, as they’ve all begun using captive great
apes like chimpanzees and orangutans in their advertising
campaigns to promote everything from soft drinks to credit
cards. In doing so, they are also promoting a cruel industry
that rips baby animals away from their mothers and trains
them to perform, using tactics such as electric shocks
and beatings with steel bars wrapped in electrical tape.
Chimpanzees and orangutans who are too old to perform
are not given sanctuary, as the industry would like consumers
to believe, but are sold to biomedical research facilities
or to tawdry roadside attractions—ensuring continued
suffering.
Click
here to read Jane Goodall’s letter
opposing
the use of chimpanzees in advertising.
|
Click
here to read PETA’s letter to the companies. |
These companies are sadly out of touch with what today’s
consumers want. Please call or write to them and voice
your concerns about using animals. Let them know that
you won’t use their products or services until
they make the compassionate decision not to use animals
in their promotions:
The Portman Group, a U.K.-based consortium of alcohol
producers, used two chimpanzees for its new “Drunken
Monkey” advertising campaign. The ads show chimpanzees
drinking beer and displaying “drunken” behavior.
Please contact the Portman Group to urge them to immediately
pull the advertisements, which are set to air in movie
theaters in the U.K.:
Jim Minton, Director of Communications
Portman Group
jminton@portmangroup.org.uk
Please contact the advertising agency that created the
campaign to ask that it no longer use great apes in
its work:
Simon Dicketts, Executive Creative
Director
M&C Saatchi
simond@mcsaatchi.com
A commercial for Tang features three “wacky,
wild Tang orangutans” dressed in human clothing
and mimicking human behaviors.
An even more recent commercial for Kraft's Digiorno
frozen pizza features a chimpanzee in a labratory
setting.
Betsy D. Holden, President
Kraft Foods Inc.
Three Lakes Dr.
Northfield, IL 60093
847-646-2000
847-646-6005 (fax)
DaimlerChrysler used young chimpanzees in a commercial
for its new Dodge Magnum model.
Dieter
Zetsche, President and CEO
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
1000 Chrysler Dr.
Auburn Hills, MI 48326-2766
248-576-5741
248-576-4742 (fax)
Please also contact the advertising agency that created the commercial.
Pete
Swiecicki, COO
BBDO
880 W. Long Lake Rd.
Troy, MI 48098
248-293-3500
248-293-3567 (fax)
The business commerce giant E*Trade ran
a commercial during the Super Bowl featuring a chimpanzee
named Jonah, who was used to push E*Trade products while
dressed in clothing with the E*Trade logo.
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Mr. Mitchell H. Caplan, Chair and CEO
E*Trade
4500 Bohannon Dr.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel.: 650-331-6000
Fax: 650-331-6804 |
Capital One ran an advertisement featuring
two men lost in the jungle who stumble upon a group
of monkeys, chimpanzees, and orangutans dressed in costumes
and partying in a tree house with merchandise that they
had purchased with a stolen credit card. Even after
receiving information about the horrors that these animals
are subjected to when used as props, they have run a
second commercial using chimpanzees.
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Mr. Richard D. Fairbank, Chair
and CEO
Capital One Financial Corporation
P.O. Box 85015
Richmond, VA 23285
Tel.: 703-205-1000
Fax: 804-747-7200 |
EarthLink ran a commercial featuring a
chimpanzee “signing” to a researcher inside
the laboratory where he was imprisoned. EarthLink pulled
the advertisement shortly after it began running but
has not announced why. Please ask Earthlink to pledge
never again to use great apes in its advertising.
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Mr. Charles G. Betty, CEO
and Director
Earthlink
1375 Peachtree St
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel.: 404-815-0770
Fax: 404-815-8805
Mr. Robert Stapleton, President and Director
Voicestream Wireless
Corporation
12920 38th St.
Bellevue, WA 98006
Tel.: 425-378-4000
Fax: 425-378-4040 |
Dr. Pepper is forcing intelligent chimpanzees
to dress as police officers in a skit called “CHimPs”
modeled after the characters on the late ’70s television
show CHiPS.
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Mr. Doug Tough, President
and CEO
Dr. Pepper/Seven Up
5301 Legacy Dr.
Plano, TX 75024
Tel.: 972-673-7000
Fax: 972-673-7867 |
A Jack in the Box commercial features
two chimpanzees wreaking havoc during a football game.
Mr. Robert J. Nugent, Chair and CEO
Jack in the Box, Inc.
9330 Balboa Ave.
San Diego, CA 92123-1516
Tel.: 858-571-2121
Fax: 858-571-2101
Dunkin’ Donuts is running a commercial
depicting an orangutan behind bars at a zoo. Ironically,
the orangutan is depicted as highly intelligent as he
“bargains” with a zoo visitor for his coffee
drink.
Mr. Jack Shafer, President
Allied Domecq
14 Pacella Park Dr.
Randolph, MA 02368
Tel.: 781-961-4000
Fax: 781-986-7360
Toyota has created a commercial in which
chimpanzees “grin” and clap their hands as
a voice says, “Nature approves,” in order
to promote its Prius.
Yoshio Iniaba, President and CEO
Toyota Sales USA
19001 S. Western Ave.
Dept. H200
Torrance, CA 90509-2991
Tel.: 1-800-331-4331
Fax: 310-468-7814
AT&T is running a commercial with its spokesperson
Carrot Top depicting a chimpanzee dialing 1-800-CALL-ATT.
Tell AT&T that it doesn’t need to exploit
animals to get customers.
C. Michael Armstrong, Chair and CEO
AT&T Corporation
295 N. Maple Ave.
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920-1002
Tel.: 908-221-2000
Fax: 908-221-2528
In a commercial for PepsiCo, Inc.’s Sierra Mist
that aired during the 2003 Super Bowl, baboons use
a seesaw to ricochet into a pool of water. The ad
portrays the animals frolicking and having fun—a
stark contrast to the lives that primates used in
advertisements actually lead:
Steven S. Reinemund
Chair and CEO
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Rd.
Purchase, NY 10577-1444
Tel.: 914-253-2000
Fax: 914-253-2070
The NOW Foundation recently rated the commercial
#1 in its “Best Ads” category for its 2003
Feminist Super Bowl AdWatch. Please contact NOW to
point out that exploitation is unacceptable in any
form:
Lisa Bennett
Communications Director
NOW Foundation
E-Mail: communications@now.org
Verizon Communications used chimpanzees in a commercial
for its Verizon Wireless service. The animals are
made to hold bananas like cell phones while the viewer
hears Verizon’s familiar “Can you hear me
now? Good!” slogan.
Ivan G. Seidenberg
President, CEO & Director
Verizon Communications, Inc.
1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Tel.: 212-395-2121
Fax: 212-869-3265
R/West, an advertising agency in Portland, Oregon,
has created a commercial called “Trunk Monkey”
that portrays a chimpanzee stored in an automobile
trunk and summoned out wielding a tire iron whenever
the operator of the vehicle is harassed by another
driver. The commercial is being sold to car dealerships
all over the country. Please write to R/West officials
to ask that they retire the commercial and establish
a policy against using live primates in their ads:
Sean
Blixseth, President
R/West
1430 S.E. Third Ave., 3rd Fl.
Portland, OR 97214
503-223-5443
503-223-5805 (fax)
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