Mullen's "Let's play" campaign for the New England Aquarium succeeds by subtly fusing the human world—in the form of ad copy morphed into hoops [2], balls [1] and fish [3]—with the naturally playful activities of marine mammals. By contrast, we had that somewhat similarly themed WongDoody effort for a Seattle zoo showing penguins tricked out beyond recognition [4], more like festive tea-cozies than birds. Now, some animals-rights types might claim that captive seals don't especially enjoy being trained to perform for humans, but I disagree. If they object, they're bright enough let us know. The one that beat me in this game of Seal Pong [5] seemed awfully shrewd: He claimed he'd never played before, then exploited my backhand like a pro and barked to psych me out on match point. Damn his blubbery hide!
—Posted by David Gianatasio