Big brands reject association with greyhound racing

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At least 40 big brands have decided not to participate in a recent 7two greyhound racing television programme.

The companies were unaware that their ads appeared during the program, rejected any association with greyhound racing, and withdrew their ads.

Greyhound Racing Victoria and Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) collaborated to create the Thrill of the Chase programme. Between November 21 and December 19, seven programmes were shown all around the country and are still accessible online.

BMW, Citi, Audible Australia, Woolworths/Big W, Federation TAFE, Officeworks, and RACQ Bank are among the companies that pulled their advertisements. Below is a complete list, as well as some of their comments. On our Stopping sponsors page, you can also see a list of all the companies that have cancelled their sponsorships and advertising for greyhound racing.

According to a CPG analysis of industry stewards’ reports, 171 greyhounds died on Australia’s racetracks in 2021 (mentioned here). More than 10,000 were wounded.

We have included commentaries below from animal welfare activists who were upset that a pro-dog racing programme was broadcast on mainstream television.

Big Brands reject animal cruelty – November-December 2021

  • ANZ
  • Arnott’s
  • Audible Australia
  • Ballarat Appliance Warehouse Management
  • BMW
  • BritBox
  • BWH Hotel Group
  • CASA
  • Choices Flooring
  • Citibank Australia
  • Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
  • Coles
  • Colorbond
  • Endeavour College of Natural Health
  • Federation TAFE
  • Flight Centre
  • Godfreys
  • Goodman Fielder
  • Headspace
  • Honda
  • Hoselink
  • Isuzu
  • Kellogg’s
  • Kia
  • Longines
  • Lotterywest
  • Macquarie Bank
  • Mars Wrigley
  • Mazda
  • Officeworks
  • RACQ Bank
  • Road Safety Commission, WA
  • Samsung
  • SC Johnson
  • Suzuki
  • The Royal Automobile Club of WA
  • Tyrepower WA
  • UBank
  • Unilever
  • Woolworths/Big W

“I can confirm, that any greyhound racing, horse racing or associated programs, are currently on a list of banned environments for ANZ advertising, which we share with our media partners like Channel Seven. ANZ

“As we have companion dogs ourselves we do not support animal cruelty. We will request that our advertising partners in future do not advertise during the below mentioned shows.” Ballarat Appliance Warehouse Management

“On behalf of BMW Australia, I would like to reassure you that BMW does not support greyhound racing or any sport involving animals.” BMW

“First and foremost, BritBox in no way supports or condones animal cruelty in any form. ” BritBox

“CASA does not support animal abuse.” CASA

 “Citi does not support greyhound racing or gambling.” Citibank Australia

“We are committed to the humane treatment of animals and take issues of animal welfare very seriously.” Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

Please be assured that Flight Centre Travel Group does not support greyhound racing and that the placement of the adverts was not intentional … we provide a list of programming and content that we instruct them not to feature us against, which includes greyhound racing and its tie to animal abuse.” Flight Centre

“I completely understand where you are coming from and this is something our company does not want to be associated with.” Hoselink

“Lotterywest does not sponsor or support greyhound racing. … we were unaware we featured during the ‘The Thrill of the Chase’ program.” Lotterywest

“At RACQ we take animal welfare seriously and have a partnership with AWLQ. We have reached out to our Marketing team who run the ads and have flagged these concerns with them, and we will investigate this issue further.” RACQ Bank

“The Road Safety Commission is completely unaware that our eRideables advertising was occurring during ‘Thrill of the Chase’ and we certainly do not support greyhound racing.” Road Safety Commission, WA

“I can confirm Tyrepower WA do not support or condone animal cruelty in any way. We have taken action to ensure that Tyrepower advertisements do not appear on programs of this type in the future.” Tyrepower WA

“I would like you to know that our values are not aligned with greyhound racing or any other animal racing and by no means do we want Dove or any of our Unilever brands to be associated with this kind of sport.” Unilever

Comments from animal welfare advocates

This program is clearly a last-ditch attempt by the industry to appeal to families and prop up their dying industry. I hope Channel 7 and its advertisers see through the lies and pull the plug on 'Thrill of the Chase', making it clear they stand with the public in rejecting animal exploitation and cruelty."
Mark Pearson
MLC, Animal Justice Party, NSW
“There is nothing thrilling about the forced racing of gentle greyhounds for gambling profits, or witnessing the carnage of broken bones and hearing the screams of agonising pain as these dogs run around a track and collide and collapse in a crumpled mess, only to be killed on track. The industry and Channel 7's spin and marketing is as distasteful as it is misleading.”
Lisa Ryan
Regional Campaigns Manager, Animal Liberation
“Racing greyhounds suffer serious injuries, and are sometimes killed. Those not racing fast enough to turn a profit, too often disappear, in an industry lacking in transparency. Thousands of dogs are consumed annually in this industry, to make a small number of people wealthier. This does not justify risks of serious injury and death to greyhounds, and no amount of PR whitewashing will change these realities. Greyhound racing is a serious threat to animal welfare, and should be banned.”
Professor Andrew Knight
Adjunct Professor, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Queensland, and Founding Director, Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Winchester, UK
"The program makers don’t care about the cruel reality for greyhounds, these gentle dogs who are bred solely to make money for gambling networks, governments and a few participants. This program is a blatant whitewash of the cruelty that is greyhound racing.”
Fran Chambers
Let Greyhounds Run Free, Tasmania

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