Ad Agency BBDO Auto-Corrects Animal Abuse

Top advertising agency BBDO New York, a recipient of PETA’s Humane Ad Agency Award, doesn’t want fellow “mad men” even to think about abusing animals. So it has come up with an ingenious way to stop ad writers from using great-ape actors in ads before they’ve even started. The agency put an auto-correct program on its thousands of agency computers that gives users pause when they type the words “ape,” “chimp,” “monkey,” or “gorilla.” Watch the video below to see what happens.

After PETA told BBDO that ape actors are torn away from their mothers as babies, physically abused, and dumped at miserable roadside zoos when their short careers end, the agency took our Great Ape Humane Pledge and is encouraging all other ad agencies to do the same.

You can help, too, by not supporting companies that still make a buck off animals’ backs.

Written by Michelle Sherrow