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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

News PETA Pulls "Lose Blubber" Billboard

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 2:28 PM

After harsh nationwide criticism, including a protest here in Portland last week,PETA is removing the woman-as-whale billboard erected outside Jacksonville, Florida. In its place, they're putting up a new ad about losing weight via vegetarianism:

Out with the old...

PETAgoneBB72sm.jpg

That's the news from PETA campaign coordinator Lindsay Rajt, who I had an interesting conversation with yesterday. Personally, when I was vegetarian, I was always a little embarrassed to be associated with PETA. Their campaigns featuring women in skimpy lettuce bikinis and naked women in cages seem like the tactics of a desperate, marginalized group, not a level-headed, mainstream movement with six to eight million members. I was excited to have Rajt to explain the thinking behind PETA's ads.


How do you respond to feminist protests that these ads are sexist and misogynistic?
There's just a fundamental difference in viewpoint here. We believe that people should have the choice to use their bodies to make a political statement. A provocative campaign will get attention and we've received numerous phone calls from people who saw the Save the Whales billboard and are going to try out vegetarianism because of it.

Many of the people who criticize your campaigns are vegetarians and vegans themselves. Aren't you worried about offending people who would otherwise support you guys?
It certainly wasn't our intent to offend anybody. At the same time, people need to realize that if they're choosing to eat meat and eggs, they're putting themselves at risk for things like high cholesterol. We take obesity seriously. What would really be cruel would be to not tell people about the health benefits of going vegetarian. I would personally rather be offended by the ad and have it save my life because it changed my behavior than not have noticed it at all.

But why do so many of your campaigns use the bodies of women to make their point? Another of the feminist complaints is that most of the ads feature women who are traditionally attractive—skinny and big breasted.
We do a wide variety of advertising and some of our campaigns feature men. They just, for whatever reason, don't usually get as strong a reaction. PETA isn't a wealthy corporation, we have to rely on getting media coverage of our campaigns. The facts alone are not interesting enough for the majority of the public.

 

Comments (6) RSS

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1
Females:
MINIMUM 5'8" - 6'0"
DRESS SIZES 0-6
BRING HEELS

Males:
5'10" - 6'2"
Waist 28-32
Jacket Sizes Up to 42L
Posted by NIG GER on August 25, 2009 at 3:30 PM · Report
2
I'm not sure Peta could ever be considered a "level-headed, mainstream movement ". Furthermore, they're not science based. They're emotion based. They aren't interested in having a rational discussion about the merits or risks of a vegetarian diet.

Sticking up for animals is fine. Peta is far beyond that.
Posted by Suburban Porn King on August 25, 2009 at 4:10 PM · Report
3
I'm glad to see PETA has picked up on the trend of young women using vegetarianism/veganism to mask their eating disorders.
Posted by Skinny City Girl on August 25, 2009 at 4:20 PM · Report
4
ugh. Even though all you got was a bag of bullshit, I'm glad you contacted them and asked those questions!

For further PR BS, PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk went on Montel's radio show to "apologize" and said "I wish more than anything you can ever imagine that we could not be controversial, and we could not be provocative. I really do." More at Jezebel http://jezebel.com/5345010/peta-founder-ap…
Posted by Kajerk on August 25, 2009 at 5:49 PM · Report
5
Why does being a vegetarian automatically make you healthy? I've known plenty of vegetarians who were overweight, never exercised and ate all the wrong kind of food - chips, candy bars and soda. This is a stupid campaign.
Posted by notavegetarian on August 25, 2009 at 9:53 PM · Report
6
Fuck PETA.
Posted by Tommy on August 26, 2009 at 3:59 AM · Report

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