PFIZER REPLACES ORANGUTAN WITH COMPUTER-GENERATED APE IN ROBITUSSIN AD

Company's Compassionate Decision Follows Information From PETA About the Hidden Abuses Involved in Training Great Ape 'Actors'

For Immediate Release:
November 5, 2010

Contact:
Julia Gallucci 757-622-7382

New York — After examining information from PETA, pharmaceutical company Pfizer has replaced a new TV ad for Robitussin that originally featured an orangutan "actor" with a new ad that includes a computer-generated ape. PETA's information—including a graphic video narrated by Anjelica Huston—detailed how orangutans and other great apes used in advertising are traumatically and prematurely removed from their mothers as infants, deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, and routinely abused in behind-the-scenes training sessions. Grey Group created the ad just before signing PETA's Great Ape Humane Pledge, agreeing never to use great apes in ads again. Pfizer has also pledged not to use primates in future commercials.

Undercover investigations have revealed that many trainers of great apes used in ads routinely beat the young animals in order to force them to perform. When these intelligent, long-lived animals reach adolescence (at around age 8) and become too large and strong to handle, they are often discarded at seedy roadside zoos and forced to live for decades in miserable conditions.  

Pfizer's progressive decision to replace the original ad reflects a growing trend away from using primates and other wild animals in advertising. After meeting with PETA, many top agencies—including BBDO, Young & Rubicam, JWT, McCann Erickson, Ogilvy & Mather, Euro RSCG, Draftfcb, Leo Burnett, and Saatchi & Saatchi—pledged never to use great apes in their ads. Many brands, such as Dodge, Verizon Wireless, Gap, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Johnson & Johnson, Europcar, Samsung, Yahoo! and Honda have followed suit by pulling ads that featured great apes or pledging never to feature great apes in future ads.  

"The last thing that advertising agencies and their clients want is to turn off consumers with ads that exploit great apes," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Public attitudes about animals are changing for the better, and more and more companies have their finger on the pulse of this positive trend." 

Pfizer representatives are available to speak with media. 

For more information about PETA, please visit PETA.org.