H&R Block ad faces calls to pull campaign featuring ‘non-consenting’ Asian elephant
Animals rights group PETA has launched a campaign in Australia to get an ad taken off air because it features a trained Asian elephant.
The ad for global tax services firm H&R Block, which was filmed on location in Bangkok, features a painted elephant. PETA has called on H&R Block to “Stop supporting elephant abuse” and is asking its supporters to write to the boss of H&R Block’s Australian operations via a templated letter on its website.
The three-month campaign, created by Joy, launched in July in time for tax return season. PETA says that the brand has ignored its calls to stop running the ad.
Last week, Australian singer Judith Durham joined the campaign and called on H&R Block Australia MD to Brodie Dixon to pull the ad “without delay” for featuring “non-consenting ‘actors’”.
Joy has not responded to Mumbrella’s requests for comment at the time of publication.
Durham wrote:
Dear Mr Dixon:
I am dismayed to learn from my friends at PETA Australia that a new H&R Block commercial includes a scene with an elephant. I feel certain that it was a lack of understanding that led to this ill-conceived decision, and I hope that after learning more about how elephants suffer when used as non-consenting “actors”, you’ll pull the ad without delay.
Elephants used in advertisements or other forms of entertainment are kept under control through the use of bull hooks, which are heavy batons with a sharp steel hook on one end. They can leave painful welts and bloody wounds. Elephants live in fear of being beaten with these cruel devices, although of course, the beatings often don’t happen in front of witnesses. The damage is done long before an elephant is rented out or steps in front of a camera.
Whatever reassurances you may have been given, no reputable sanctuary would hire out elephants as trained performers.
Since the commercial was filmed in Bangkok, you may be shocked to learn that Thailand is the world’s largest promoter of elephant camps in which the barbaric Phaajaan ritual is used to break baby elephants’ spirits. Phaajaan means “breaking the love between” (i.e., between a baby elephant and his or her mother). In these facilities, still-nursing baby elephants are dragged from their mothers, bound with ropes and steel cables and immobilised in wooden cages. They are beaten mercilessly for days while deprived of food, water and sleep. The babies panic, collapse in exhaustion, defecate in fear and scream out in terror and pain. They finally give up all hope, and life as they knew it is over forever.
I hope you are as appalled by this information as we all should be and act upon it by immediately pulling H&R Block’s new advertisement. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Judith Durham
Are we certain that these assertions are true? Lots of claims, not a lot of support.
It’s just that PeTA has long form for embellishing / lying / chucking blood / flashing tits to further its own agenda.
Always worth bringing this Daily Show piece on PeTA out for a chortle http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/66609078.html
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I am in absolute agreement with the complaint and I actually made one myself to the same extent. This add monetises and promotes the incredibly disgusting and cruel life these poor elephants have to endure. No matter what they say or what they were told, at the very least this ad is disrespectful to the efforts of our animal protection campaigners. Why not have a human blend into the background? The ‘elephant in the room’ analogy is lost on most people anyway…
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Great idea for the ad. Just CGI it in. Wouldn’t it be funny if it already was a CGI elephant.
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I thought it was CGI !
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What a load of crap, we have definately lost it to political correctness and the looneys at PETA, this is ridiculous and the Bozo’s above supporting, Get a Life.
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As an out-of-work elephant I find it ridiculous that some got-nothing-to-do-better uni-hangarounder makes my opportunities tough. Man, it’s a jungle!
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Thank you PETA for speaking up for elephant. People who want to see the training of elephants in Thailand should search for footage of Phajaan. So sad that H&R Block wouldn’t use CGI.
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With all the technology available today, there’s no use for using a real elephant in an ad. H&R Block have publicly stated that the elephant was NOT CGI. I hope they show consumers that they see animal welfare as an important issue by banning this ad ASAP.
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I’ve always used H&R block to do my taxes, integrity, smart, efficient, however I’m looking elsewhere this year and in the future. They probably thought they were being clever and exotic with this advertisement, however it is true that many elephants are treated with disrespect and inhumane behavioural training the world over to be used at man’s whim. The tourist trade has a lot to answer for, with internationals paying big dollar to experience the majestic elephant, but not realising the true impact…maybe people now think twice about the conditions of animals, thanks PETA.
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…said a PeTA supporter
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So it was a real elephant after all! I thought it was CGI as I didn’t believe it was possible to use a real elephant and get it to stay still in the exact position to make the layout contiguous and camoflaged. Perhaps they should have stuck with the trick cyclists.
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Sorry, “camouflaged”.
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I think it is cruel that they painted the wall in EXACTLY the same colours as the elephant.
Ever since Bill Posters was prosecuted there has been an outbreak of this sort of stuff.
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…thanks also to the report by wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC
“Baby elephants captured, mistreated, to supply Thailand’s tourism industry” after a 2 year investigation.
http://www.smh.com.au/environm.....zt0xw.html
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And we know that the elephant featured in the TVC is related to the trade outlined in the article, how?
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I just saw H&R Block Australia’s latest advertising campaign featuring a live “trained” elephant. PeTA Asia-Pacific has started a petition to tell the company that this cruel exploitation of innocent elephants in Thailand is unacceptable. Please take a moment to sign and share the petition, you can see more details here: http://ow.ly/B1cPi.
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