Why Is UK Greetings Banning ‘Grinning Chimpanzee’ Cards?
After hearing from PETA, UK Greetings – Britain’s market-leading direct-to-retail publisher and manufacturer of greeting cards – has confirmed it has stopped producing products featuring unnatural and degrading images of chimpanzees, which are known to hinder conservation efforts.
We are celebrating this victory for chimpanzees and hoping other card manufacturers will follow the company’s compassionate lead.
What’s Wrong With ‘Grinning Chimpanzees’ on Cards?
The clownish images of chimpanzees dressed in costumes – often infants who have been taken from their mothers – frequently display a fear grimace, which the public is fooled into mistaking for a grin. Studies confirm these images impede conservation efforts by leading consumers to believe that the species is thriving rather than endangered and may drive black-market demand for the animals as “pets” – one of the main threats to wild populations.
UK Greetings’ decision to stop making cards featuring images of captive great apes in unnatural situations acknowledges that such portrayals hold power, and for chimpanzees threatened with extinction, it can be a matter of life or death.
Leading Companies Are Saying No to Harmful Cards
UK Greetings – part of American Greetings, which banned chimpanzee images in 2022 after a PETA US campaign – joins other leading card companies, including Hallmark and Moonpig, and stock-image agencies, such as Shutterstock, in banning the harmful depictions.
Other Primates Need Your Help
Right now, thousands of monkeys and other primates are languishing in cages, living in fear, and being denied everything that’s natural and important to them. These complex individuals are used in crude, cruel, and useless experiments. Take action to help them:
