For using their “Xhale Mint” ad to speak up for animals who are incarcerated at zoos, Parle Products and Everest Brand Solutions have won a Glitterbox Award from PETA. The Glitterbox Awards are given every year for exceptional animal-friendly advertisements.

The award-winning advertisement depicts the inconsolable sorrow of animals who are incarcerated in zoos. It shows penguins and a polar bear shedding tears as they remember the days when they lived in their natural homes.

Even under the best of circumstances at the best of zoos, captivity cannot begin to replicate wild animals’ habitats. Animals are often prevented from doing all the things that are natural and important to them, such as running, roaming, flying, climbing, foraging, choosing a partner and being with others of their own kind. Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to interfere with animals and keep them locked up in captivity – bored, cramped, lonely, deprived of all control over their lives and far from their natural homes.

“The best way to help animals is to conserve their natural habitats and to boycott zoos and other attractions which exploit them”, says PETA Chief Functionary Anuradha Sawhney.”The new Parle mint ad is as refreshing as is the mint itself.”