Dodge’s Disappearing Ape

This has to be a first.

Notice anything different about Dodge’s ad? Not only did the company agree to “never [use] great apes in [its] advertisements again” after PETA alerted the carmaker to the beatings and other abuses that performing chimpanzees are subjected to behind the scenes, it also digitally altered the ad that started it all to make the chimpanzee disappear.

Dodge also issued a statement explaining why the chimpanzee had to go: “They [PETA and Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest] 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.”

The news of Dodge and PETA’s détente quickly went viral. A Taiwanese media company even got into the act with a hilarious animated “reenactment” of the disappearing-ape saga, complete with pyrotechnics.

Is it just me, or does Taiwan’s idea of a PETA boss look eerily like Jason Statham?

Written by Alisa Mullins