Action Alert

Arby’s Commercial
December 3, 2007

Arby’s recently began airing a television commercial that features young chimpanzees in a laboratory, who begin line-dancing to a song on the radio. Arby’s got the right idea by using digital technology to create the dancing chimpanzees sequence, but they fell short by using real chimpanzees at the beginning of the commercial, and to create the facial expressions on the composite digital images (two of which are fear grimaces).

Please contact Arby’s and voice your disappointment in their support of animal cruelty. Let them know that chimpanzees cannot be trained for entertainment by positive reinforcement alone, and brutal training practices in the entertainment industry are well-documented. Also point out that chimpanzees are an endangered species, and using them for entertainment seriously undermines conservation efforts.

Roland Smith, CEO
Arby's Restaurant Group
1155 Perimeter Center West, 12th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30338
678-514-5310
RSmith@Arbys.com

Sample Letter or Email

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to voice my strong disappointment that Arby’s Restaurant Group chose to use chimpanzee “actors” in a recent television commercial. While you may not have known this, chimpanzees used in entertainment are taken away from their mothers at birth, causing irreparable psychological harm. Chimpanzees cannot be trained for entertainment by positive reinforcement alone, and brutal training practices in the entertainment industry are well-documented. As they grow, chimpanzees become too strong to be dominated by their trainers, and “retirement” at age 6 or 7 usually means being cast off to roadside zoos or other substandard facilities, and sometimes condemnation to solitary confinement.

In addition to welfare concerns, chimpanzees are an endangered species, and using them in TV ads seriously hampers conservation efforts. Please develop more creative and less exploitive ads in the future, and take this demeaning commercial off the air. I look forward to hearing from you on this urgent matter.

Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]