Kaplan Thaler Group (New York)

This commercial, created by Kaplan Thaler Group (headquartered in New York) for Dawn soap in my opinion is a perfect example of a company that promotes social responsibility. When the viewer sees this commerical, he/she learns that the best thing about this product is that it is used to wash and help save animals that are caught in oil spills. Something so thick and gooey as oil can be defeated by Dawn soap without even slightly harming the delicate little feathers of the duckling. Not only is Dawn promoting its soap, it is promotiong animal safety and stressing the importance of being enviornmentally friendly. Sometimes animal cruelty commericals can come off as corny and overly dramatic, however, this commerical keeps it upbeat (thanks to the music) and shows how the animals are being helped rather than seeing them suffering in the ocean covered in oil.

On the flip side, many Animal Rights activists are suprisingly infurated with the ad. The commercial claims that thousands of animals caught in oil spills have been saved by being washed in their dishwashing liquid. The TV spot shows a duckling covered in oil being bathed with Dawn dishwashing liquid. Animal activists are outraged because in tiny letters at the bottom of the screen, it says, "simulated demonstration" meaning it was not actual footage from an animal rescue. In order to make this commerical, they intentionally covered an animal with paint and corn syrup to simulate oil, just so they could wash them on camera.