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Update (September 25, 2024): It seems no experiment is too stupid or too dangerous for Michael Platt to conduct or for the National Institute of Mental Health to fund with U.S. tax dollars. Platt, now at the University of Pennsylvania, strapped frightened monkeys into restraint chairs for hours and deprived them of water to force their cooperation. The purpose: to see whether the animals could “predict” the results of a number of U.S. elections by forcing them to stare at images of the candidates’ faces, which meant nothing to them, in return for a tiny sip of juice. It’s a sign of how removed from actual science experimentation has become when a scientific journal might publish this cruel nonsense, and it’s deeply disturbing that scientists and journalists are discussing it as if it had some meaning. The research community should be mortified by Platt’s experiments and should bar him from using animals. Since the university allowed Platt to cause grievous suffering to monkeys in this ridiculous experiment, PETA will be seeking legal advice in order to bring criminal or civil action if there’s any way to do so. You can help by letting the National Institute of Mental Health know what you think of its decision to fund this experiment. Please take action below.
Original post:
Image: Acikalin, et al., "Rhesus Macaques Form Preferences for Brand Logos Through Sex and Social Status Based Advertising," PLoS One 13.2 (2018)
Experimenters at Duke University purposely kept 10 macaque monkeys thirsty–—likely for days—in order to force them to cooperate in an experiment on… (wait for it)… sex and power in advertising.
In this federally funded fiasco, experimenters made the monkeys use computer touch screens to select brand logos—such as those of Pizza Hut and Nike—based on their pairings with pictures of a dominant male monkey, a subordinate male, or the hindquarters of a sexually receptive female. In order to compel them to perform this absurd task, experimenters first deprived them of sufficient water so that they would be thirsty and therefore desperate for the small drops of fruit juice that they received as a "reward" for their "cooperation."
This experiment—which the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) thought was a fine use of tax dollars—concluded that associations with sex and power sell products, something we've known is true for humans for decades. And human volunteers could easily have been used instead.
We're not letting the NIMH off the hook for funding these cruel and completely useless experiments on monkeys.
Please speak out!
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