Dodge Ditches Chimpanzee From Commercial, Creates ‘Invisible Monkey’ Ad

by Daelyn Fortney August 17, 2010
Categories: Animals
Tags: michael c. hall.
Photo: video screen capture

Last month, the folks at Dodge found themselves in PETA’s crosshairs after producing a commercial featuring Susie the Chimpanzee. Dressed as Evel Knievel, Susie came in at the end of a spot to push down a lever which triggers a confetti explosion.

According to Dodge, the ad—which was posted to YouTube—received quite a bit of positive attention for its “wit and humor” yet the company was drawn to a handful of comments that mentioned the commercial promotes animal cruelty. Soon after the video hit YouTube, Dodge was contacted by PETA and a chimpanzee sanctuary in Washington State who both took issue with the commercial and informed the car manufacturer of the horrible conditions in which animal actors are forced to live.

“We were saddened to learn this, and in the spirit of Dodge we wanted to take action,” Dodge says in a message posted in the company website. “We decided to take the spot off the air, and we stopped a full-page newspaper spread from running. Dodge is firmly committed to never using great apes in our advertisements again.”

Subsequently Dodge released a new commercial with the identical footage but this time, Susie is out of the picture—literally. Dodge erased the chimp so viewers only see an “invisible monkey” as stated by announcer Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under and Dexter.

Dodge is using the commercial to point viewers to a special website where the story is explained and resources are provided to raise awareness of animal cruelty.

The ad sans Susie is now being aired. Below are the before and after commercials.

georgina0912

This is wonderful! How cool of Dodge not do dodge (durrr!) the corporate responsibility that comes with having a commercial featuring a chimp, but changing it, and then educating people about what was wrong with that!

And with all the bad publicity that PETA gets i am certainly glad that they stepped up and took it upon themselves to educate the car maker. This is the side of PETA people should get acquainted with. Certainly, the more educated people are about issues involving animals the better they will be and us as a compassionate nation.

I. Simply. Love it.
- don miguelo
  
  Agreed.
- Les
  
  So they had to pull it. Our tax dollars are paying for it. Why can’t they waste it like everyone else does.
  - don miguelo
    
    Stop sending your tax dollars to Dodge and send them to the IRS! Man, if I had a nickel for every time someone said that… I’d have a nickel, I guess.
Laura Queerve

Screw the monkey………..let’s drill a hole in it’s skull and suck out its brain with a straw……..YUM!
http://RawfoodsRetreat.com erin elizabeth

LUV LUV LUV the commercial and that Dodge changed it… We used to have a Dodge van growing up. I don’t know why I mention that

E
http://newmothertips.info Amy

I think this is overboard. I doubt that monkey was mistreated. Things like this make PETA look silly, instead of focusing on real issues.
- don miguelo
  
  If you doubt hard enough– it makes it real!
- georgina0912
  
  Real issues like what Amy?
  - http://Petakillsanimals.com Bree
    
    like the 18,000 cats and dogs PETA put to sleep in recent years claiming they were “unfit” for adoption. That’s a load and a half of crap.
Paper

But the chimp is STILL pushing the plunger, but now it’s okay because you can’t see the chimp? How asinine….
scooter

What a load of misdirected politically correct hogwash. If PETA could show that the monkey in question was mistreated then they have something to complain about. If not, then its just publicity grand-standing, and shame on Dodge for caving in to it!
Chamborde

Who cares about PETA? The other poster is correct: they are a self-aggrandizing poltically correct group of morons whose good efforts are overshadowed by their self-importance. Hey Dodge, show some backbone.
Conservative Mark

I hate PETA… accept when the hot PETA chicks take off their clothes.
http://www.fancyipadskins.com ipad skins

Nice Man, Its really very funny even though i hate peta.