Dolphin, cliché for sale ! (Feb 2008)

It's hard not to be impressed by the number of photos of dolphins or whales in magazines. We see them everywhere! Don't you?

Dolphins have been used for all consumer products for years.

The problem that arises is that serious errors are produced voluntarily or involuntarily. For example, I have read in nature magazines that readers are led to believe that this species of animal exists in this natural environment, but unfortunately this is not true.
Indeed, I can imagine that nobody can recognize a species of cetacean compared to another because the photo is still beautiful.

However, I find it scandalous to mix species and not want to make the difference between dolphins, whales and other marine mammals.

How can we quote an animal when it is not in this environment and therefore cannot correspond to the article? It happens to read a summary about a freshwater dolphin when the photo shows a large dolphin in the open sea! This is absurd! These two species do not come to the same places.

The whale frequently used for magazines is the humpback whale! This one shows its tail systematically when it dives so it is easily photographed and these pictures are sold all over the world. However, this whale does not live in all the seas of the world and uses migratory routes. The groups of the northern and southern hemispheres never mix! So why make the reader believe that this whale is observed at this time when the season does not allow it or it does not exist! We want to make the tourists believe that it is possible to observe it with "a lot" of luck. On the spot, it is the disappointment.

For the dolphin, "Flipper" is represented everywhere but rarely in freedom and very often in captivity. It is normal, easier to photograph an animal in a cage than in its free space.

Travel agencies, advertisers and commercials, mainstream magazines, use the image of the dolphin as a "cliché to sell" to promote their business and sell the dream. And it works very well except that nobody is fooled.

Because the dolphin looks good, it is used in abundance to sell anything.
We will not take the risk of putting a shark in a picture because its image is scary. However, this one is one of the most endangered species in the world (not less than 100 million sharks are fished per year in all the seas of the world) for the good taste of their fins. But they should be shown only for articles inspiring their danger!

Apart from the connoisseurs, nobody knows that the pictures of cetaceans offered to the stores are inaccurate.
It should also be added that the photographs can be false and faked. Technology and computer software can work miracles.

In short, I am often scandalized by this misleading advertising. Animals are often used in marketing for their cheerful and neutral appearance. I would like to know if some of the animals have not been mistreated by the team to get their service......... but this is another subject.

See you soon.