Orangutan promo poster earns brickbats for Hard Rock Cafe in Sabah
The
newly opened Hard Rock Café in Kota Kinabalu has sparked uproar among
concerned citizens and environmentalists who disapprove of the
restaurant’s promotional material featuring an orangutan. — Picture
courtesy of Dr Sen NathanKOTA KINABALU, April 19 — Hard Rock Café has
landed itself in some trouble with local animal lovers and activists
less than a month after it opened here, as Sabahans took offence to the
restaurant’s promotional material featuring an orangutan.
Photos of the restaurant’s promotional advertisements went viral on
social media site Facebook, with environmentalists and enraged locals
aghast over buntings and banners bearing the image of an orangutan
baring its fangs while holding an electric guitar on a stage.
Angry Facebook users went so far as to threaten to boycott the
restaurant if it did not immediately take down the offending advertising
material depicting the state’s beloved mascot.
Sabah Wildlife Department Dr Sen Nathan said that the photo was
depicting the orangutan in a very unnatural pose and is a form of animal
exploitation.
“It does not matter if it was photoshopped or a real photo… what is
the underlying message that we in Sabah want to portray?” he told Malay
Mail Online when contacted.
“The photo gives a completely negative impression to locals and
tourists of how we view and treat our dearest wildlife, especially our
flagship species — the majestic orangutan.
“I’ve already asked the restaurant’s management to remove it. We had
advised them against using that image, but they went ahead with the
advert. This does not look good for the restaurant’s or Sabah’s image,”
he added.
Conservation biologist Dr Benoit Goosens said that the advertisement
was distasteful and a bad marketing decision on the restaurant
management’s part.
“We should not be encouraging the use of wildlife in this kind of
promotion even if it is photoshopped. It is highly inappropriate in a
world where wildlife is commercially exploited.
“It does not give a good image of the company, and they should take
it down immediately and stop the publicity campaign,” said Goosens, who
is also the director of Sabah-based wildlife research and training
facility Danau Girang Field Centre.
In response to the advertisements, Facebook users launched an online
protest, flooding the restaurant’s Facebook page with posts objecting to
the use of the orangutan in their promotion material.
“Really BAD taste, Hard Rock Café KK. Take these down now! Stop
exploiting Orang Utans. This is so NOT clever,” said Jaswinder Kaur
Kler, a communications manager with an environmental non-governmental
organisation.
Simon Amos said, “Typical multinational insensitivity. All they care
about is money, some overpaid idiot thought it would make good marketing
and clearly has no idea how dear we hold our wildlife.
“I thought HRC would be a good brand for Sabah but when I saw the
advertisements mocking our wildlife I realised it is just another
insensitive greed-machine.”
Calls to the management of Hard Rock Café went unanswered.