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'How Dawn Helps Save Wildlife'
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A duck contaminated with oil from the Black Sea
When the protection of wildlife is being discussed, a big flag of skepticism is raised in my head. I won't get into the entire reasoning for purposes of brevity, but let's look at the famous "oily duck" commercials from Dawn liquid soap as an example
'Dawn saves wildlife'
If you haven't seen these commercials, Dawn soap appealed to the environmentally-conscious consumers by airing a commercial showing how Dawn detergent has been used to clean ducks and other animals from oil contamination.
These commercials were immortalized in the late Mitch Hedberg's joke:
The last Dawn dishwashing commercial they had an oily duck and they cleaned it off. They said 'Dawn dishwashing liquid cleans off an oily duck.' That's a weird way to advertise a dishwashing liquid. We clean oily ducks and plates. So if you have an oily duck over for dinner, we can help you in two ways.
Following the success of this campaign, Dawn is now airing a commercial, this time with an oily penguin, advertising their (your) contribution of $1 for every bottle purchased to be donated to saving wildlife.
Let's stop here and consider the wording used. As is often the case for these "Race for the cure"-like promotions, the saving of wildlife here is not quantified in number of animals saved, but dollars "to saving wildlife." Unless dollar bills themselves are somehow inherently useful to animals, we need to start asking not how Dawn saves wildlife but how the International Bird Rescue Research Center and the Marine Mammal Center save wildlife.
In the meantime, let us wonder how the Procter and Gamble corporation, who produces Dawn dish soap, could claim to be invested in the care and wellbeing of animals while at the same time torturing animals with these very same products for research.
Comments on Dawn's Facebook page
This campaign is just one example of moral schizophrenia in our relations with nonhuman animals. Learn more about moral schizophrenia.
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