Subaru Tries to Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat and Comes Up Empty-Handed

Subaru of America’s national television commercial featuring a mother and daughter getting out of a Forester sport utility vehicle to release a pet bunny into the wild was dropped a week after its June 3, 2002 release. The decision followed cries of foul play by pro-rabbit and animal rights activists who claimed the bunny release was tantamount to a "death sentence."

As soon as the commercial entered the wild world of broadcast television, pro-rabbit groups came out of their lairs, including the House Rabbit Society, friendsofrabbits.org and Michigan Rabbit Rescue, saying that release of a domestic rabbit into the woods is inhumane because the domesticated furballs "lack the instincts to survive on their own and fall prey to predators, are susceptible to disease, or end up starving because there is no adequate food source." It makes you wonder if wild rabbits are a lot more vicious than we think...

Why This Matters: While this all certainly has a touch of humor, the death of Subaru’s rabbit commercial illustrates, yet again, that despite their best intentions, campaigns can generate absurd and costly responses from the most unlikely places. The Internet also provides a medium for activists to generate enough heat to shut down a major campaign. Indeed, last fall Jeep cancelled an ad found offensive to hunters, and the California Milk Advisory Board is grappling with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) over its positive depiction of the lives of cows in a California pasture (PETA says that California cows live in filthy, grassless lots, are forced to give too much milk and are separated from their calves too soon). One can only hope that a "Free Couch Potatoes Coalition" isn’t informed to attack all advertising that supports the lackadaisical behavior of that most significant population.

This article originally appeared in ADLAW By Request, a publication of Hall Dickler Kent Goldstein & Wood LLP.