Halifax Bank Drop Animal Ads After Protests

The Halifax bank and its parent company HBOS plc has become the latest company to stop using wild animals in commercials following a campaign by the Captive Animals' Protection Society (CAPS).

A recent TV advert for Halifax's Moneyback Current Account features a white tiger cub chained to a bedpost as a symbol of the luxury lifestyle that the bank associates with the account.

According to Delaney Lund Knox Warren (DLKW), the ad agency responsible for the commercial, the tiger cub was just 4 ½ months old.

Tiger cubs are normally dependent on their mother for food until they are about 18 months old. It is well known that wild animals in captivity who are taken away from their mother at a young age are far more likely to have behavioural problems in later life.

The American company that supplied the tiger (Steve Martin's Working Wildlife in California) has in the past been cited by the US Department of Agriculture for failure to provide veterinary care, environmental enhancement, shelter and minimum space.

CAPS provided this evidence to Halifax two months ago but they refused to pull the ad or stop using animals in future ads.

However, after CAPS contacted HBOS Chair Lord Stevenson, the company told CAPS that HBOS "have instructed our advertising agency to avoid using captive wild animals in the production of future advertising."

Craig Redmond, Campaigns Officer for the Captive Animals' Protection Society (CAPS) commented, "Using animals in commercials clearly does not make good business sense. In the past two years several companies have pulled adverts featuring animals following campaigns by CAPS, including Halfords, Puma,
Portman Group and Pepsi.

"Since the latest Halifax ad was on air, CAPS has received numerous calls from Halifax customers who were so disgusted by their use of animals that they moved accounts and mortgages to other banks. Once again consumer power has made these companies take notice of animal welfare issues.

"Wild animals do not belong in captivity, and animals used in entertainment often live miserable lives and may be subjected to cruel training."

CAPS is still encouraging Halifax to pull the tiger advert and has also turned its attention to Masterfoods, whose new TV commercial for Twix chocolate bar features a lion in a circus. Filmed in New Zealand, the ad was made by Grey London and portrays a lion-tamer slapping a lion while his colleague's head is in the lion's mouth.

 

Captive Animals' Protection Society