American Humane's logo and end disclaimer, "No Animals were Harmed," assures movie-goers that animals were not killed or injured in any way, and that their well-being and safety were assured by the American Humane Association. But five new films are using the end credit without authorization -- and American Humane is not happy.
Animal lovers often sit through the end credits of a movie to wait for American Humane’s disclaimer that says “No Animals were Harmed” in the making of the movie. It is their assurance that the animal actors used in those productions were not killed or injured in any way, and that their well-being and safety were assured by the American Humane Association.
But American Humane must be up in arms right now because apparently, some recent movies are misleading the public and creating a significant breach of trust with audiences by inserting unauthorized “No Animals Were Harmed” end credits that have not been granted by American Humane, and whose productions were not monitored on-set by American Humane’s Certified Animal Safety Representatives™.
“American Humane sets standards of care for animals in entertainment, upholds our Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media, and records objective reports from the set attesting to the treatment of the animals,” said Karen Rosa, American Humane’s vice president in charge of its Film & TV Unit. “Films that meet these standards are eligible to carry the end credit, and this misuse of American Humane’s registered trademark is an affront to those producers who legitimately and conscientiously meet those standards.”
American Humane’s Film & TV Unit, based in the Los Angeles area, exposed these recent films as using deceptive and unauthorized end credits:
Adam by Olympus Pictures, Deer Path Productions, Serenade Films, Vox3 Films.
District 9 by WingNut Films Limited, Key Creatives and LLC/QED Intl.
Easy Virtue by Ealing Studios, Fragile Films, Endgame Ent., Odyssey Ent.
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Number 9 Films.
Shrink by Ignite Entertainment, Ignite Productions, Ithaka Entertainment and Trigger Street Productions.
In each instance, American Humane has sent the production entities, studios and/or distributors a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the unauthorized end-credit disclaimers be removed immediately from the theatrical version, the DVD version and any other versions they are releasing. Some studios and producers have indicated they will remove the illegitimate credit, while others are making excuses or taking no action and, thus, are potentially compounding possible infringement of American Humane’s protected trademark. This furthers the willful deception of the public as to the veracity of the safety and well-being of the animals used in those films, says American Humane.
Viewers can check out their website, www.americanhumane.org/film to see what rating is assigned to films. In the meantime, the films and studios mentioned above are using the end credit without permision and without having American Humane representatives on the set. Don’t reward these dishonest tactics by seeing their movies.
