Big Picture Group Wins PETA Award for Banning Ads Using Great Apes
PETA Press Release:
Spot Featuring Young Chimpanzee Will Be Company’s Last
For Immediate Release: March 26, 2008
Los Angeles - For pledging that it will never again produce ads that use great apes after learning from PETA about the suffering of young chimpanzees and orangutans used as “actors,” Los Angeles-based multimedia ad agency Big Picture Group (BPG) will receive PETA’s Compassionate Marketing Award.
PETA contacted BPG after the agency produced an ad for movietickets.com that featured a young chimpanzee named Jake. After reading the materials and watching the video sent by PETA, BPG President Steph Sebbag told PETA that the company would not work with “those people” again and will stop using great apes in ads. Sebbag also said that he would consult with PETA before using any other animals in future commercials. Big Picture Group will receive a framed certificate as a token of PETA’s appreciation.
PETA points out that using infant and juvenile chimpanzees and orangutans in commercials is inherently cruel. Early separation is traumatic for both mothers and infants, as great apes in the wild stay with their mothers for years. Many trainers repeatedly fail to comply with even the minimum standards for animal care that are required by federal law. Trainers sometimes use electric-shock prods to force intelligent and strong-willed youngsters to perform confusing acts and sit still under studio lights for hours.
A primatologist who spent 14 months working at a California facility that trains great apes for the TV and movie industries observed that trainers kick, punch, and beat chimpanzees to make them obedient. Chimpanzees and orangutans used in ads are usually only a few years old. By the time that they reach young adulthood at about age 8, they are too powerful to control and are often discarded at roadside zoos or sold to cheap traveling shows.
“Our hats go off to Big Picture Group for taking a tough stand against the abuse of chimpanzees and other animals who were never meant to be ‘actors,’” says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. “There’s nothing funny about watching an animal who was torn from his loving mother–and likely beaten repeatedly–’perform’ for the sake of a few sales.”
PETA’s correspondence with Big Picture Group is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site NoMoreMonkeyBusiness.com.
