Chimp, Chimp Hooray–SEGA Pulls Ape Ad!
We’re officially bananas about SEGA. In fact, we’re sending them a thank-you card and little vegan chocolates in the shape of monkeys (closest we could get to apes) as I write this. Why is this gaming giant scoring such a sweet treat? After learning that SEGA used a real chimpanzee in an online video promoting Samba De Amigo (a new Wii game in which you use your primate prowess and a pair of maracas to make beautiful music), we contacted the company.
We explained how involuntary chimpanzee “actors” are taken away from their mothers when they are just a year or so old and forced to perform confusing and repetitious tricks. We also explained some of the horrible methods that chimpanzee “trainers” use, such as isolation, beatings with sawed-off pool cues and slapjacks, and food deprivation. Then, at the ripe old age of just 8, the chimpanzees reach puberty and their showbiz careers are over—and they end up being dumped at dismal roadside zoos or sold to laboratories for experimentation.
Faster than you can mangle a Metallica song on Guitar Hero, SEGA pulled the video from its site and promised to keep all great apes out of its ads!
Please join me in giving SEGA two opposable thumbs up for making the compassionate decision to keep great apes out of the act.
Written by Amy Elizabeth
