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Ask Whatcom Educational Credit Union to reconsider
*Note - please see the update on this alert and send a thank-you instead!
July 20, 2010
A current advertising campaign at Whatcom Educational Credit Union features posters of a baby orangutan and young chimpanzee promoting WECU’s home loans over other “monkey” businesses. The baby orangutan is also featured on their website. WECU is a local bank in Whatcom County, Washington – the same state that is home to two facilities providing lifetime care to chimpanzees, both of which strongly oppose the use of any great apes in media. Washington State has a reputation for protecting chimpanzees, and WECU is doing a disservice by choosing instead to exploit them. Although the images are stock photos and not newly shot for this campaign, the harmful message remains.
Primate Patrol contacted WECU with our concerns and although they engaged in a dialogue with us, they decided in the end that they couldn’t afford to pull their campaign. Please send a polite letter to WECU urging them to reconsider. Be sure to let them know if you are a customer of WECU or a Washington State resident. Your letters can make a difference – last year the producers of Dancing with the Stars made the right decision and dropped a chimpanzee clip from the show after hearing from concerned advocates.
Letters can be sent to:
Kessa Volland, Marketing Manager
Whatcom Educational Credit Union
P.O. Box 9750
Bellingham, WA 98227
Or via e-mail at: kessa.volland@wecu.com
SampleThank You Letter/Email
[Date]
Dear Ms. Volland:
I was shocked and disappointed to hear that WECU used images of baby apes in their recent ad campaign for home loans. Using a great ape in your ad sends the message that these amazing beings are simply props. Surely WECU is aware that chimpanzees and orangutans are endangered species in critical need of protection? Regardless of the source of these photos, you are exploiting great apes for your own profits and this is an unacceptable business practice.
Please make the compassionate decision to remove the current ad campaign from rotation, and please commit to never using images that exploit great apes for advertisement purposes again. Thank you for your consideration of my comments on this urgent matter, and I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
[Your city & state]
**If you write an e-mail, please BCC PrimatePatrol@ChimpSanctuaryNW.org for tracking purposes.