Thank you for your e-mail regarding our advertising, which we have decided to stop running, effective immediately.

The headlines and images were chosen to attract attention and entertain, while saying - tongue in cheek - that after seeing the fascinating animals at the Aquarium, beloved but familiar pets might seem a little dull, at least for a short while. That's an exaggeration, of course, but humour often involves exaggeration. I can assure you that the Aquarium would never condone any kind of neglect of animals (domestic or otherwise), and certainly apologizes if that's how you interpreted the campaign. Caring for animals and conserving the environment is at the heart of everything the Aquarium has done for nearly 50 years.

Millions of people have gained a greater understanding and appreciation of the natural world by visiting the Aquarium and learning about its inhabitants. The goal of this ad campaign was simply to encourage people to visit the Aquarium - but in order to do that, we first have to capture their attention. Given the thousands of advertising messages people are exposed to (and ignore) every day, and the Aquarium's comparatively small advertising budget, we felt that an untraditional, amusing approach was required. Humour is subjective, of course, so we did test the ads extensively with the general public before running them. Almost everyone found them funny, and no one we spoke to saw any message in them other than the intended one. However, feedback from community members like yourself, has revealed that this particular campaign is a mistake.

We sincerely regret that our attempt at humour offended you, but thank you for taking the time to let us know. Your comments will be forwarded to our adverting agency, to be considered as we create new ads.

Sincerely,

Brenda Jones
Acting Manager, Public Relations
Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre

Tel (604) 659-3400
Direct (604) 659-3516
www.vanaqua.org