Pain behind smiles in ads

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Chicago-based CareerBuilder ad from Super Bowl 45, January, 2011

Updated: March 1, 2012 8:19AM

On Super Bowl Sunday, millions will watch CareerBuilder’s latest advertisement featuring a frustrated office worker dealing with the antics of his co-workers, portrayed so predictably by chimpanzees. Unlike chimpanzees, who are adept learners capable of adapting to a wide breadth of social circumstances, CareerBuilder executives seem brutishly daft when it comes to understanding their audiences.

Why aren’t these advertisements living up to the popularity of similar spots aired last decade? People are better informed. We know there is a lot of pain behind the chimpanzees’ faux “smiles” in these commercials. Chimpanzee actors are youngsters who are often removed from their mothers at a very young age and are rarely, if ever, provided the stimulating environment necessary during their very short careers in entertainment. By the time they reach adolescence, they are often discarded because they are too large, strong and dangerous to force into media performance. Lincoln Park Zoo’s Project ChimpCARE has worked to bring these issues to the public consciousness for several years now, including the release of a free children’s iPad book, Chimps Should Be Chimps, to help teach a younger generation about what chimpanzees really need. We know, through scientific research, the dangers these CareerBuilder-type commercials pose on public perceptions of this endangered species. When viewers see chimpanzees dressed up and cavorting in office settings, they are not only more likely to think chimpanzees might make good pets (they don’t) but also perceive their wild populations are stable and healthy (they aren’t).

When you see the CareerBuilder advertisement during Super Bowl Sunday, what will you feel? Humor? Sadness? Dismay? I know what the executives of that company should be feeling: shame.

Steve Ross, founder,

Lincoln Park Zoo’s
Project ChimpCARE,
assistant director, Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes