Dodge dodges PETA flap
Recently Dodge ran a commercial for their summer Tent Event in which a chimpanzee, dressed a la daredevil Evil Knievel, celebrates by detonating a miniature cannon loaded with confetti. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) lodged a complaint against the auto manufacturer for using a chimp in the ad.
Rather than engage in a war of words, Dodge remained invisible on the issue. That is, they digitally removed any trace of Suzie the chimpanzee leaving only a walking daredevil outfit, now referring to the non-chimp as an invisible monkey.
This brilliant solution accomplished two things. It appeased PETA. And generated a great deal of free publicity for the carmaker. Among other respected sources of news, The London Daily Mail online and the Los Angeles Times—not to mention the Hodgson/Meyers blog—have reported on the event.
Kudos to the car company and its advertising agency, Wieden + Kennedy, for taking the complaint seriously and for using it to increase awareness for both PETA and the sale of Dodge cars and trucks.
Kudos is right. The use of primates in entertainment is an incredibly tragic and inhumane exploitation of wild animals. Infant monkeys are taken from their mothers much too young and forced to perform through physical abuse. When they are too old and powerful for their trainers to handle with shock collars, they are discarded, often ending up in roadside zoos and circuses to suffer a lifetime of abuse.
A growing number of organizations have pledged never to use primates for entertainment: Sprint, Honda, Yahoo!, Gap, Inc., The Ad Council, SEGA, among others. Dodge made a progressive decision, and a significant social statement against the horrors and necessity of animals used for entertainment.
To see what you can do to help primates in entertainment, checkout: http://www.janegoodall.org/action