I wrote a PR person in Verizon Wireless and here is her response back to me. Hi Mary: I told marketing I would get back to you myself on the ferret commercial since you wrote me -- I didn't want you to think I just passed you along. Please recognize that the animal used in the commercial is not real -- it is a puppet so every intent was made to respect the rights of real animals. And, the commercial is humorous -- the ferret comes off a lot smarter than the human who has nothing better to do with his time than to tease a ferret. There was never any intent to demonize ferrets. In fact, just the opposite is true. Even though what the ferret owner did was very stupid, he is obviously a ferret lover or he would not have had one. If you notice, the ferret isn't in a cage, he is sitting on top of the table with seemingly free range throughout the house. This guy loves his pet, he's just young and foolish. Please let your ferret loving friends know we had absolutely no intention of offending them or any pet lover with the commercial. Mary and The 10 Munchkins [Posted in FML issue 3873]