As most of you probably know by now, the company CareerBuilder will be airing a commercial during the Super Bowl that uses live chimpanzees. It’s nothing new, really – CareerBuilder started using chimpanzees for commercials several years ago. Unlike more progressively-minded companies (like Dodge and Pfizer), CareerBuilder has never responded to members of the public, celebrities and experts who have sent them information about why non-human great apes should not be used in entertainment.
The protests over the use of chimpanzees in the CareerBuilder commercial have garnered more attention this year than ever before. Steve Ross of the Lincoln Park Zoo has been quoted and interviewed numerous times in print and on television and the Jane Goodall Institute released a petition yesterday.
There is also a petition on care.org started by Dawn Forsythe who runs the blog Chimp Trainer’s Daughter and the Facebook page Year of the Chimpanzee.
We at the sanctuary are concentrating on also supporting the suggestion started by fellow sanctuary director Jen Feuerstein at Save the Chimps. She is asking people to Change the Channel for Chimps and began a Facebook event for people to do just that – change the channel when the CareerBuilder ad comes on during the Super Bowl. CareerBuilder spent $3.5 million on that 30 second commercial, and perhaps the best thing we can do is refuse to watch it.
So, be sure to share the message to Change the Channel for Chimps through Facebook, Twitter (you can RT our tweets), and your email lists.
Let’s do what we can to make this the last commercial with chimpanzees that CareerBuilder makes.
Jamie, Burrito and probably Jody were all used in entertainment before being sold into research. Sarah, CSNW’s ED, went undercover at a chimp training compound several years ago. It’s both a personal issue for us at the sanctuary and an important part of our mission to educate others about the abuse that happens to chimpanzees. We as humans who care have to speak up for them.
If you haven’t already, please also join our advocacy branch Primate Patrol.
