Animatronic Orangutan Takes To London Streets To Raise Awareness About Deforestation

An animatronic orangutan took the streets of London to highlight the threat to orangutans caused by deforestation, as a result of palm oil production.

The life-size animatronic orangutan was spotted climbing a 20-foot Christmas tree in Coin Street and walking the streets as part of Iceland’s supermarket campaign, which encouraged shoppers to stop buying palm oil for their food. 

The ape was built and designed by special effects artists in Ireland, and it was controlled remotely by a specialist puppeteer. 

Last week, regulators banned Iceland’s Christmas ad from TV for being too “political.” Now more 865,000 people have signed a petition for it to be allowed to be shown on TV. The animated ad originally produced by Greenpeace showed an Orangutan invading and ransacking a girl’s bedroom. When the girl confronts the orangutan by asking him why he’s in her room, he says its because humans have invaded his forest. 

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Since being banned, the ad has reached more than 12 million views on Facebook, and celebrities including James Corden have supported the campaign. 

Back in April, Greenpeace pledged to force producers to take palm oil out of 130 food lines by the end of 2018 to reduce demand.