Dodge's 'invisible monkey' PETA jab

Was the automaker's decision to digitally erase a chimpanzee from a recent ad a concession to PETA — or a provocation?

Best Opinion:  LA Times, Consumerist, Car Connection

After receiving a complaint from PETA about the use of a chimpanzee in a company advertisement, Dodge created an internet sensation by digitally manipulating the spot to suggest the primate had become "invisible." In the original, a chimp dressed as Evil Kneivel sets off a small explosion of confetti; in the edited version, the same sequence of events features an animated Kneivel suit, apparently unoccupied, doing the same. "Oh wait, there's an invisible monkey," says the narrator. "Unbelievable." The original ad "was just meh, monkey joke," says Ben Popken at The Consumerist. "The revision is an act of surreal genius, and a giant finger to PETA pantywringers." Nonetheless, thank you, says PETA's Michael Lyubinsky in an open letter. "We have enjoyed Dodge's recent incarnation of the ad and are thrilled that Dodge has joined the growing number of companies that have pulled the plug on existing ads featuring great apes." Watch both the original and the altered ads below:

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