Success for monkeys, as Lexus UK endeavour to stop using primates ‘actors’ in their adverts!

Wild Futures, the primate welfare and conservation charity, is celebrating a small victory after writing to, car manufacturer, Lexus. Wild Futures was disappointed and concerned to see the unnecessary use of a capuchin monkey in a Lexus advert that features Jude Law. The advert paints the image of a luxury lifestyle of partying and exclusivity, the use of a capuchin in this gives an impression that that is a completely normal behaviour and situation for the monkey. It is not, and it should not be advertised as such.

The advert reinforces and promotes the idea that primates can live alongside humans, and this sets back the work of organisations such as ours who have been trying to end practices like this for years. Evidence has shown that every time a primate is used in television, films or commercials, it leads to an influx of demands from potential pet owners who want to take a monkey home.  This in turn boosts the pet trade in exotic animals (both legal and illegal) and is a direct blow to the welfare and conservation work being tirelessly carried out across the world.

Primates are long-lived, intelligent, socially complex animals. Being social is a striking feature of primates, and perhaps the most important in terms of meeting their needs. With few exceptions, they live in complex societies that can comprise tens of individual animals. Primates have long infant and juvenile phases, with social independence occurring long after nutritional weaning. This period is crucial for learning about the physical and social environment, and about parenting, for survival and reproduction.

Primates used for entertainment and in the Media are often removed from their social group and hand-reared, causing distress to the infant, mother and other members of the group. Curtailing the period in which young primates are dependent on their mothers is known to have profound and long-lasting negative psychological and physiological effects. Hand rearing by humans does not make up for this loss, and is associated with a range of welfare issues.

Those who work in the industry claim that no cruelty is involved in the training of primate actors, but, the fact that in order to be trained for such purposes, primates are likely to be removed from their social groups; subjected to frequent and sometimes extended transport, which is known to be highly stressful to primates; denied the opportunity to express natural behaviour in a suitable environment. When these needs are not met, the individuals suffer. The on-set supervision of a vet and absence of obvious physical abuse does not mitigate the potential suffering. The primates are trained to perform unnatural behaviours and are deprived of normal and natural social lives with their families and other monkeys.

After writing to Lexus explaining these points, they have come back to us, thanking us for the information and telling us that they have asked that their advertising team do not use any exotic animals in future UK advertising. This positive result comes after similar pledges from Peugeot and Cross Country Trains and the NUS following interventions by Wild Futures and their supporters. We hope others will take their lead to end the use of primate actors.