Culture & Religion — February 8, 2011

CareerBuilder’s Chimps: Life After Super Bowl?

What happens to those chimps? Major ad agencies have pledged not to use great apes. Why won’t CareerBuilder?

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Super Bowl commercials: What happens to those CareerBuilder chimps? They’re not monkeys. They’re chimpanzees with short working lives in entertainment, after which they can’t be returned to zoos or the wild. Lucky ones end up in sanctuaries, needing care for the next 40 years. Major ad agencies have pledged not to use great apes. Why won’t CareerBuilder? Chimpanzees used in commercials are mostly infants and juveniles who were taken away from their mothers (a traumatic act for mother and infant) so they can be trained to perform for entertainment and advertising. This changes their futures forever.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

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