No More Chimpanzee-Business From Dodge

  • August 18, 2010
Chrysler's Dodge division has pulled an ad for the summer Dodge Tent Event in which a chimpanzee presses a detonator to cause an explosion of confetti. The ad brought derision and complaints on the use of a chimp. Said Dodge in a statement out this week, "And, yes, we know, chimpanzees aren't monkeys. That was one of many facts we learned..."

The statement goes on to explain that when Dodge posted the ad to YouTube, it garnered thousands of hits and hundreds of comments "applauding the commercial for its wit and humor. However, there were a few negative comments about animal cruelty that caught our eye."

Those, per Dodge, included two emails, one from PETA and the other from a chimpanzee sanctuary in Washington. "Both informed us about the poor conditions of working animal 'actors'. They told us how these animals are usually separated from their mothers at a young age, and are usually discarded at seedy roadside attractions after they get too old to act."

Besides taking the ad off the air, Dodge said it stopped a full-page newspaper spread from running. A replacement ad uses the same footage, but without the chimpanzee.

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