5.1.05

The following article was on the Guardian's website today. CAPS have tried to reach PUMA all day to confirm this but they have not responded to calls or e-mails.

(Contrary to what PUMA claim below, PETA did not see the ad before broadcast and they certainly would have complained if they had seen it!)

Thanks to everyone who signed onto the letter at such short notice. We will let you know as soon as we have confirmed this story with PUMA.

Craig / CAPS
info@captiveanimals.org

Animal rights groups condemn Puma chimp ad

Stephen Brook, advertising correspondent Wednesday December 22, 2004

Puma has said it will not be reshowing an advert that features a chimpanzee in a nappy, after renowned scientist Dr Jane Goodall joined with more than 30 animal rights groups to condemn it.

But at the same time the sportswear giant vigorously defended the advert, saying it had been cleared by the American Humane Society and the New York office of PETA, the animal rights group. "The spot is not on air anymore," said Ulf Santjer, the head of Puma corporate communications. Dr Santjer added that the advert would not be reappearing because it had already finished its scheduled on-air run. But Puma's own press release from November, when the ad was launched, said it would run until March 2005.

Groups including the RSPCA, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Captive Animals' Protection Society urged Puma to scrap the TV advert, which shows a young chimp in a nappy playing with a sports shoe. "Chimpanzees and other apes suffer horribly for society's entertainment," said Dr Goodall, who rose to fame with her conservation campaign. "It is time to move beyond the misuse of creatures who are vulnerable to our exploitation precisely because they are so like us."

Craig Redmond, a campaign officer for CAPS, said chimps used in advertising were taken away from their mother at a very young age and could only be used in adolescence because they grew too strong for humans to handle after that. "They then spend the next 40 years in captivity because they are no use to the entertainment industry," Mr Redmond said. Puma said it had taken "great care" during the filming of the advertisement.

A New York agency, All Creatures Great and Small, provided the chimpanzee for the advert, which was filmed in the city. "The chimpanzee is three years old and we can assure you that he has been given incredible care throughout both his career in commercials and his life with his human parents," Dr Santjer said. "As we were told, his parents adopted him after his mother died and they have raised him from a baby. The American Humane Society attended the photoshoot. We also had the animal's trainer managing his activities the entire time - as an integral member of the team. "Before the ad was broadcast it was also sent to the national office of the PETA in New York, and they did not have any complaints."

Campaigns by animal rights activists mean that adverts such as the long-running campaign for PG Tips that featured chimpanzees could never appear today. Adverts for Halfords and Grolsch beer featuring animals have also been withdrawn after complaints from groups such as CAPS.

In May a campaign by CAPS succeeded in getting an advert pulled that was created by M&C Saatchi for the alcohol industry organisation the Portman Group. The M&C Saatchi ad had chimpanzees drinking from beer bottles and feigning drunken behaviour in an effort to tell young people not to be "drunken monkeys". The advert was never broadcast.

Apes in Entertainment

Update 23.12.04 - Just thought we'd give you some good Christmas news. PUMA's UK office has confirmed in a telephone call with CAPS today that the chimp ad has now been pulled. We haven't had it in writing yet so we have not issued a statement to the press. Unfortunately the Christmas break means we probably won't get written confirmation until the New Year.

Puma is trying to claim that the ad was scheduled to finish now anyway - the Guardian's media website yesterday reported that the ad was actually due to run til March 2005, and in the 2 weeks that we've been speaking to Puma they have not once mentioned the ad was to finish now!

Once we get written confirmation, and a response to our request that they pledge not to use primates in future ads, we will let you all know what they say. An update will also be posted on our website.

Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly to sign-on to the letter to Puma. It clearly had the desired impact as their announcement that the ad was dropped came the day after we e-mailed them the letter and received press coverage!

With best wishes for a successful 2005.

Yours

Craig Redmond
Campaigns Officer The Captive Animals' Protection Society

18.12.04 - FFC has been working in consultation with the Ape Alliance with respect to their campaign with "The Captive Animals' Protection Society" to halt the use of Apes used in the field of entertainment. The Ape Alliance has a web page that provides links that you can go to (http://www.4apes.com/help/) where you can make your feelings known - directly.

If you agree that it is wrong to separate baby Apes from their mothers to teach them tricks for films and adverts, circuses etc, please sign their letter (a copy of which is below or click the image below to get a word copy) and send to PUMA asking them to withdraw their TV commercial featuring a chimp. We currently have over 20 primate conservation and animal protection organisations on the letter.

We will be sending the letter to PUMA and the media on Monday 20th.

Regards

Craig Redmond
Campaigns Officer
The Captive Animals' Protection Society
PO Box 573, Preston, PR1 9WW, UK
Phone/Fax: 0845 330 3911 (Direct line 0845 456 9381)
info@captiveanimals.org
www.captiveanimals.org

Dear PUMA,

Ref: Commercial, 'Chimp'

We the undersigned, representing animal protection and primate conservation
organisations worldwide, write to express our deep concern over your new TV
commercial featuring a young chimpanzee.

As you may be aware, there is a huge amount of opposition to the use of
chimpanzees and other Great Apes in commercials and the entertainment
industry.

There is a great deal of evidence of cruelty being used in training Great
Apes to perform, and we are also concerned at the implications their use
has on efforts to protect them in their natural habitats.

Please find enclosed a statement from the undersigned organisations and
individuals.

We call upon PUMA to withdraw this commercial immediately and to pledge to
not use primates in future commercials.

We look forward to your reply.

Yours Sincerely,

Use of chimpanzee in Puma television advertisement

Members of the Ape Alliance - an international coalition of organisations and individuals, working for the conservation and welfare of apes - and other animal groups, are writing to you in response to your recent TV commercial in which you use a chimpanzee to promote PUMA products. We are appalled that such an outdated practice is still considered appropriate by a high-profile company. The welfare and conservation of chimpanzees and other primates are already under serious threat due to human exploitation.

Chimpanzees are a highly intelligent species, shown recently to share 99.4% of their genetic identity with humans. Their numbers in the wild are continually declining because of threats from hunting, the destruction of their forest habitat, and the pet trade. They deserve respect and protection. To use chimpanzees in advertisements is not only exploitative, but also diminishes their status in the public's perception as an endangered species protected by UK and international law.

Use of chimpanzees in advertising and entertainment may encourage breeding of the species in captivity, where there are serious concerns for the animals' welfare. For instance, there is evidence of young chimpanzees being taken away from their mothers at an early age and of chimpanzees having their teeth removed to stop them biting, as well as training by electric-shock collars and by using iron bars disguised in newspapers. When the chimpanzees reach the end of their useful life - probably before their teens - they are sentenced to 40 years or more of captivity where their welfare cannot be guaranteed.

It is also believed that the use of primates in advertising and entertainment increases the public's desire to 'own' such an animal - a situation which leads to serious concerns for the individual's welfare.

Such an enhanced demand for primates as pets also leads to an increase in the number of individuals taken from the wild (babies snatched away from the arms of their slaughtered mothers, or whole families killed to remove one desirable juvenile), and an increase in the number of animals which are bred in captivity to feed this desire.

Dr Jane Goodall, who has spent her life campaigning for apes, said: "Chimpanzees and other apes suffer horribly for society's entertainment. It is time to move beyond the misuse of creatures who are vulnerable to our exploitation precisely because they are so like us."

For these, and many other reasons, we urge you to reconsider your recent advertisement and stop it from being broadcast any more on television. In the past, companies such as Halfords, Grolsch and PG Tips have realised their mistake in using chimpanzees in advertisements and have pledged not to use them in future. We hope that you will follow the example of these companies.