SEGA pulls breakdancing monkey advert

By Ellie Gibson Published 5 November, 2008

After animal rights group complains.

SEGA has removed an advert for Samba De Amigo from its website following complaints from an animal rights group.

As you'll know if you've seen the trailer, it shows a real live monkey shaking a set of maracas. The monkey goes on to perform a popular breakdancing move, the "backspin", only to be pointed and laughed at by a group of children.

Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals complained about the ad, but all is now forgiven.

"We're officially bananas about SEGA," reads a message on the PETA blog. "In fact, we're sending them a thank you card and little vegan chocolates in the shape of monkeys."

The rest of the message isn't quite so jolly, though. Apparently PETA explained to SEGA "how involuntary chimpanzee "actors" are taken away from their mothers when they are just a year or so old and forced to perform confusing and repetitious tricks".

"We also explained some of the horrible methods that chimpanzee "trainers" use, such as electric shocks with shock collars and prods, isolation, beatings with sawed-off pool cues and slapjacks, and food deprivation."

At the age of eight, the post continues, chimps reach puberty - which means, like some kind of simian Aled Joneses, they're no longer wanted in the cruel world of showbiz. They're dumped at roadside zoos or sold to laboratories, where they are experimented on and run the risk of getting the zombie lurgy.

Not only has SEGA pulled the video, the company has "promised to keep all great apes out of its ads" in future, apparently.

It's not clear whether PETA is aware SEGA has also been training hedgehogs to run at super-fast speeds and fight fat men in space helicopters for years now.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Spanky #1 3 years ago

    Oh do fuck off PETA... please... you're just going far too far. Fuckin Vegan Chocs too, you're on the verge of patheticing yourselves to death.

  • the_dudefather #2 3 years ago

    peta blog links to EG homepage ;)

    Its funny that the PETA blog is known as 'The PETA files' (we like animals, but we LOVE children)

  • nickthegun #3 3 years ago

    They also grafted a second tail onto a fox. The swines!

  • rudedudejude #4 3 years ago

    PG Tips FTW

  • Zomoniac #5 3 years ago

    Sad fucking wankers.

  • HermitArcader #6 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • chrisjm #7 3 years ago

    ok so maybe thats how they were first brought into training when the practise started many years back and probably still in some countries, but do they know for a fact the samba monkey has been treated like this? im guessing no. if they have facts on it though then they done good.
    Edited by 1 at 05/11/08 @ 10:36

  • bad09 #8 3 years ago

    Gotta love PETA

    / kicks his dog, buys a battery chicken, eats a Veal Steak and stubs his fag out in a gorilla hand ashtray...

  • MarkHW #9 3 years ago

    PETA are fucking mental. Witness their ridiculous "sea kitten" campaign :

    Please don't eat the sea kittens

  • Stuz359 #10 3 years ago

    Cool, trying to save an animal that doesn't exist.
    Eeeeew, Vegan. You know they might lighten up if they ate a burger.

  • chrisjm #11 3 years ago

    imagine if peta and greenpeace merged, we'd be living in caves eating moss.

  • McGeeza #12 3 years ago

    It looked like he was having a fucking whale of a time.

  • Dan234 #13 3 years ago

    Oh, I hadn't heard of them for a while, I thought they'd all died of malnutrition or something as they can only eat fruit and nuts (appropriately).

  • kangarootoo #14 3 years ago

    This thread is so full of stupid.

    "please... you're just going far too far."

    Going too far? In what sense at ALL have they gone too far in this case? Have they broken into your house? Have they stolen money from your bank account? Have they taken a crap in your hallway? Have they impacted your life is ANY way whatsoever?

    No. They asked SEGA to stop using a chimp in their advert, and then thanked SEGA when the chimp ads were ceased.

    Sometimes PETA can be a bit pious and sermonising, but get some context you bloody lunatics.

  • Inquisitor #15 3 years ago

    PETA have done nothing wrong here. They just asked Sega to pull the ad and explained why using a monkey actor was cruel and they seem to have done so in a pretty level headed way, thanking them for doing so not attacking them for being cruel themselves.

    That sea kitten site is pretty funny too, they're slightly mental but nothing to get all uppity about.

  • Spanky #16 3 years ago

    What evidence do they have that this chimp in question was mistreated, highlighting the plight of other chimps is irrelevant. Using any footage of a chimp must be so soo harrowing for them knowing that there are other chimps elsewhere who have been wronged.

    The ad also has children in it, why? Why? I'm calling the NSPCC, i hear Shirley Temple and Judy Garland were both mistreated by their management... for fucking shame nintendo, using child slavery for your evil capitalist gains. Pull this add now.

    Harry Redknapp is reet ugly, how dare they, don't they know that ugly people around the world have been mistreated since the dawn of time... makes me sick.

  • That_Happy_Cat #17 3 years ago

    @McGeeza

    PETA is against the fucking of whales

  • Pulsar_t #18 3 years ago

    Tools on EG are as stupid as always, failing to disappoint.

  • Spanky #19 3 years ago

    Premise(given) Conclusion(none) Inference(infer none) Qualification(none)

    New Conclusion: 45kers are morons

  • Hamflank #20 3 years ago

    It's almost as bad as bio industry meat!

  • kangarootoo #21 3 years ago

    @Spanky

    I know you are ranting to make a point, but your post just makes you look more ignorant than I'm sure you are. Your comparisons to kids in adverts is frankly stupid. If you can point to a single instance where a chimp said "no thanks" to appearing in an ad, I'll happily agree with you.

    "What evidence do they have that this chimp in question was mistreated, highlighting the plight of other chimps is irrelevant."

    Of course its not bloody irrelevant. Whether the specific chimp is well looked after, its appearance maintains the idea that chimps appearing in adverts is ok. And if that idea is maintained, it creates a profit stream for people who own chimps are not well looked after.

    Tell me seriously, are you not able to see the connection? I know you are trying to make a point, but are you genuinely struggling to see even the most shallow complexities of this issue? I just want to know whether it is worth presenting any further challenging questions, I mean don't want to give you a nose bleed or anything.

    Why use any primates in adverts at all? Why do you apparently feel it is so necessary, that any objection is met with such upset and anger. Where is the benefit? I mean there must be a benefit, right? Otherwise, why would you care? Right?


    Threads like this do PETA a service. They can basically say "look at the lunatic shit that comes out of the mouths of people who disagree with us".

  • kangarootoo #22 3 years ago

    "Premise(given) Conclusion(none) Inference(infer none) Qualification(none)
    New Conclusion: 45kers are morons"

    Clearly I'm too dense to understand. Care to translate for the rest of us? Or is this one of those "Well if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you" moments?

  • hiddenranbir #23 3 years ago

    It's clear the chimp was conditioned to behave unnaturally.

    Are Japan known for animal care?

  • kangarootoo #24 3 years ago

    Nope.

  • Spanky #25 3 years ago

    I'm not in favour of animals being pressed into service but i'm pretty pretty sure most in the western world are looked after, trained using humane conditioning and in some ways, probably exactly in this case, they might've enjoyed it. Chimps are not retarded, bad training will show in it's condition(hair loss, nervous conditions etc) and that is one healthy chimp.

    I do see the link between the two, i just find in this case that it's the usual "We disapprove of all animals being used in any way" nonsense from PETA and of course nintendo are going to remove it as to not cause any controversy, being the cuddly game company. This advert is not an advert made for nintendor.ru with a dancing bear, it's a chimp rolling about on a couch then spinning on the floor. It's not cycling around in a tutu jumping through flaming rings.

    * disclaimer, i fucking adore animals and i would happily cut the throat of anybody who harms them for entertainment if it was legal, but it ain't. Also I eat meat(ooooh evil).

    ** disclaimer 2, you won't give me a bloody nose with arguments made from patronising shit distilled into it's purest gaseous form, you just smell is all.

    *** disclaimer 3, i'm for the destruction of peta because i love chimps(err) i like watching them arsing around, the world will be a dull grey conservative beige if we rid them from the tv.

    PETA = Worse than Nazis.

  • kangarootoo #26 3 years ago

    "It's clear the chimp was conditioned to behave unnaturally."

    That is where the whole issue hinges.

    "you won't give me a bloody nose with arguments made from patronising shit distilled into it's purest gaseous form, you just smell is all. "

    Well that is me told. I feel utterly deflated.

    It seems your definition of loving chimps means you enjoy watching the funny things they do. I wonder if the same kind of "love" will apply if you ever have kids.


    "PETA = Worse than Nazis"

    And there ends the discussion. Madness has entered the room and stolen all the chairs.

  • Spanky #27 3 years ago

    Naw i just want to have sex with chimps. Hairy bums, gotta love them.

    /puts chimp costume on deflated Kangaroo
    /rubs thighs

  • Spanky #28 3 years ago

    Also:
    "Premise(given) Conclusion(none) Inference(infer none) Qualification(none)"
    It's how you construct an argument, wasn't pointed at you though twas for Pulsar_T, whatever the fuck that means.

  • Oh-Bollox #29 3 years ago

    I would call them PETArds but that word is already taken.

    Shame, really.

  • keyboardmonkey #30 3 years ago

    Oi PETA you bunch of twonks

    Please make sure all adverts showing Dogs and Cats on the TV in the UK are banned.

    Plus all you horsey types should set your horses free and not keep them in stables. And don't get me started about those blind people who are using their dogs as slave labour ;-)

    Mmm i see one set of rules for holier than though set and another set of rules for everyone else.

  • callum9999 #31 3 years ago

    If PETA are telling the truth then its great sega have pulled the ads (I doubt sega would have if they were lying). The ads in the UK with cats and dogs etc in them generally just show them doing vaguely normal things, a bit different to the abuse those monkeys apparently get.

  • keyboardmonkey #32 3 years ago

    No monkeys were spanked while writing this comment. Watching the GHWT advert with Heidi in though... you don't wanna know.

  • kangarootoo #33 3 years ago

    "The ads in the UK with cats and dogs etc in them generally just show them doing vaguely normal things, a bit different to the abuse those monkeys apparently get"

    Good point. More importantly, cats and dogs are significantly easier to look after properly than primates. It is therefore more reliable (though not iffalible) to assume that they are well looked after.

    @Spanky

    "It's how you construct an argument"

    Ah, ok. Interesting stuff, cheers. Never really thought about it before. It just kind of happens.

  • Kill_Crazy #34 3 years ago

    Hate groups like PETA who seem to think it's ok to attack humans. We're animals too you know. Fuck off and buy some more red paint to chuck over models you twats. Dug up any more graves lately? Firebombed anyone today?

  • thesonglessbird #35 3 years ago

    FFS, can't they see that the monkey is smiling?

  • Dan234 #36 3 years ago

    If PETA are concerned with animals behaving unnaturally then maybe they should lead by example and bugger off to the nearest cave and spend the rest of their lives banging rocks together.
    Edited by 1 at 05/11/08 @ 19:01

  • Nithron #37 3 years ago

    I gotta say, I don't agree with this whole "Haha, look at him, it's a monkey doing a funny trick!" crap. If you want a dancer in your advert, go and learn to bloody dance.

    Don't force some random animal to do it for you.

    While we're at it, if you wanna go and jump over some hedges, do that yourself as well. What's with making a horse drag your arse around a track?

    And don't get me started on milk.

  • SharksInYourMouth #38 3 years ago

    imagine if peta and greenpeace merged, we'd be living in caves eating moss.

    Nah you wouldn't. People protest too much about little things to let that happen. In a way we're just like PETA, protesting about shit ( moaning about the shit they come out with) when really we should be ignoring them :-)

  • kangarootoo #39 3 years ago

    @Kill_Crazy

    You are confusing PETA with other animal rights organisations. PETA have never condoned attacking anybody.

  • bitesize #40 3 years ago


    well, i never thought i'd see the day when i'd read a thread full of people actually defending animal cruelty. unbelievable. i mean, i realise it's mostly just typical adolescent gamer knee-jerk reaction (someone criticised a game company! they must be nazis and/or cunts!) but it's still very disturbing...

  • Dan234 #41 3 years ago

    Someone above said that cats and dogs were okay to train but chimps weren't. Is there really any difference between training chimps and training cats and dogs? The fact that chimps can manipulate objects?

    You see adverts with cats scooping out cat food from the plate or tin using a paw. Should these be banned for cruelty?

    I really doubt the chimp was treated cruelly to force it to perform tricks, simply because there are so many controls over training and filming. If there were the slightest suspicion that the chimp was treated cruelly PETA would have said exactly exactly what was done to it, but they haven't. (Edit: They've just talked in general terms about bad things that can happen.) So what are we objecting to here?
    Edited by 1 at 06/11/08 @ 14:19

  • bitesize #42 3 years ago

    Someone above said that cats and dogs were okay to train but chimps weren't.

    no they didn't, they said cats + dogs usually appear in adverts doing things they do naturally (ie, playing about, eating, dipping paws into catfood) - and they have no problem with that. do you really not see the difference between training an animal to do what it does naturally, on command, and training a chimp to breakdance?


    I really doubt the chimp was treated cruelly to force it to perform tricks, simply because there are so many controls over training and filming

    depends which country you're making the advert in, there are huge variations across the world in legislation on animal cruelty. also, while there are control over the filming of the advert, there are no controls over how the animal in question was trained, and how it was treated while being trained.

    Edited by 1 at 06/11/08 @ 14:53