Ravens weren't the only winning animals in Super Bowl XLVII. Great apes finally got a reprieve when CareerBuilder at long last decided to stop dressing up chimpanzees in business suits and featuring them in ads about immature coworkers. The ads were unintentionally ironic, since the chimpanzees truly were immature, as in babies. Thank the football gods that CareerBuilder decided to retire those idiotic ads before Ray Lewis got his first hip replacement.

In fact, no great apes were used in any Super Bowl commercial this year, the first year since all the top 10 U.S. advertising agencies pledged never to use great apes in their advertising after meeting with PETA.

As shown in PETA's video exposé, narrated by Anjelica Huston, great apes are torn away from their mothers shortly after birth and are beaten in order to force them to perform. Once they get too powerful and dangerous to control, they are often discarded at dismal roadside zoos. 

Great apes weren't the only animals given the day off. Most of the exotic animals featured in the Super Bowl ads were computer generated, not that the average viewer could tell the difference. It makes a big difference to the animals, though, when advertisers opt for realistic computer-generated imagery and animatronic stand-ins and refrain from subjecting real animals to the rigors and abuse of training both on the set and off.

During a PETA undercover investigation of a facility that trains big cats, we documented that the animals were deprived of food, dragged by chains around their necks, hit in the face, and smashed over the head with ax handles. When they're not being forced to perform, exotic animals are confined almost constantly to cages and chains.

If this Super Bowl is any indication, cutting-edge companies seem to be recognizing that compassionate customers are turned off by animal abuse and will tune out cruel ads—because the only squirrel dance that we want to see during the Super Bowl features a burly linebacker.

The TV networks have been notably, um, unenthusiastic about running PETA's Super Bowl ads, so this year PETA is planning to take its message directly to the players and fans by placing billboards in the teams' hometowns of New York and Boston as well as Indianapolis, which is hosting the game, making an irreverent plea for people to put down the chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday.

Chickens © iStockphoto.com/Sunnybeach

Why Worry About Wings?

It's estimated that some 600 million chickens are killed for the wings consumed just during the Super Bowl. Yikes! And that's after the abuse they all suffered through on factory farms.

Not only is this wing-eating obsession cruel, it also shows a lack of imagination. After all, there are so many mouth-watering alternatives to the old same-old same-old. For vegan game-day treats that will satisfy the most ravenous sports fan, check out these recipes for fab finger foods that won't cost birds their limbs.

Try Tasty Alternatives!

If your party guests insist on being served wings, try the meatless variety, like Gardein's buffalo "wings"—the choice of the NFL's Ricky Williams—or just roll your own!

Like most people, one of my favorite things about the pre-game Super Bowl hype is hearing about the commercials that will run during the game. This is particularly true this time around, since (due to a calculating error by the NFL) the Redskins didn't make it into the playoffs this year. But is it me or is the hype around this year’s field of ads virtually non-existent? Granted, nothing will ever come close to that Mean Joe Green Coke spot—or even the GoDaddy ad, but come on ad folks, what’s the deal—are you waiting for PETA to submit its spot to be rejected to get the pre-game ad media frenzy started?

Sorry to disappoint, but, this year we decided to take a different approach. Rather than create yet another brilliant spot that is summarily rejected, we decided just to dig into the vault and re-release some of our past Super Bowl classics.

Take a look and let us know what your favorite is. My money is on the pillow fighting co-eds arguing over whether dolphins or unicorns are cuter. The one about the young ladies with udders is kind of amazing too, if a little disturbing. I seriously can't understand why they rejected these masterpieces. Anyway, with PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian 2006—Prince himself—performing at the halftime show, maybe we don't even need an ad this year ...