In Soviet Russia, Zoos Rent Raccoons!
I know there has been a lot of news about Russian recently, but I can't believe no one is talking about this. A zoo in Moscow is suing the advertising company Art-Msk after they rented a raccoon, used it in an ad featuring a topless woman, and returned the raccoon in a state of shock. Seriously, in Russia, you can rent a raccoon from the zoo.
Now, from what I can understand (keep in mind I don't speak or read Russian, I'm relying solely on Google Translate), back in August of 2016 Art-Msk rented the raccoon saying it would be used in ads for blankets and towels, but soon the management of the Moscow zoo saw pictures of their raccoon with a topless woman. Zoo Management asked the pictures be taken down and they weren't, so they sued on the grounds of that the raccoon's animal rights were being violated. According to a spokesperson for the zoo, and forgive me here, I have no idea if the quote is right, but this is the gist of it, because of these pictures "raccoons will now be associated with erotica." Also, the raccoon (whose name is Thomas), is apparently now is a state of shock and afraid of cameras... how they can tell that, I have no idea.
Of course, the people at Art-Msk find this whole thing absurd and stated because of the lawsuit, they couldn't give the client the pictures. And, according to Google Translate, they also said this:
You know, this whole situation is utter absurdity. The fact is that the raccoon himself dragged the actress's bra and hid under the bed. Initially, we requested a trained animal, because raccoons are in principle very unmanageable. But we were given this, he was young and constantly ran away. As a result, after several takes he stole the underwear and chewed it. When representatives of the contact zoo informed us that they are suing, we told them that then we will file a counterclaim so that they will reimburse the cost of the bra.
This video was not erotic, it had to be broadcast on federal channels. We explained to them that advertising in our country by law cannot be erotic, but they refused to listen to us. By the way, the finished video never came out, because we had problems with the customer after the claims were made.
I don't know the people at Art-Msk were expected. Raccoons are nature's little thieves. Of course, they would steal the actress's bra and chew it. It's a raccoon, that's what they do.
We'll do our best to see what happens with this story and see what happens in court. I hope they don't call the raccoon - Thomas seems like he's been through enough. Also, I can't wait for the Yakov Smirnoff bit about this.
Via Tjournal.ru