PETA, the animal rights group, has launched – or tried to launch – another of their in-your-face promotional campaigns geared to the holiday season. Some folks found the campaign’s imagery disgusting. As a result, their ‘Christmas’ ads have been rejected across the market…
The PETA ad depicted in the doctored photo in its Instagram post, above,
never really appeared on London’s iconic Double Decker buses…
PETA is noted for its hard-line, in-your-face approach to promoting vegetarianism and veganism. It regularly launches ad campaigns daring meat eaters to keep sinning. The most recent, before this latest controversy, featured various farm animals declaring, “I’m me, not meat!” That’s thought provoking but not disgusting.
For the holiday season, however, the anti-meat guerillas tried to go one further. And one a whole lot uglier. They tried to buy advertising space on London’s double-decker buses displaying the cooked head of a dog on a platter, and daring viewers to ‘Create a new Tradition – Go vegan.”
The headline read: “If you wouldn’t eat your dog, why eat a Turkey?”
One blogger responded, that was, “probably the ridiculous equivalent of, ‘You wouldn’t eat a poinsettia, why would you eat lettuce?’ ”
Did they honestly think there would be be no backlash?
PETA posted the doctored photo (above) on several pet-lovers message exchanges as well as on Instagram. Th latter post was accompanied by the message:
One hundred buses were meant to be serving up some food for thought from PETA this Christmas, but at the last minute, London Buses refused to run our advert on the grounds that it may cause offence.
What’s truly offensive isn’t the ad but killing millions of turkeys for Christmas dinner – who have the same capacity to feel pain as dogs and cats.
The bus company, Transport for London, had a good reason for rejecting he ads, though. The ad was rejected by the UK advertising standards Council whose rules prohibit marketers from using shock tactics and fear to promote their goods, services or ideas.
PETA must be really ticked off. Now, their ads can’t be shown in the UK at all! But what of other jurisdictio0ns? We haven’t hard, yet, that Canada, the US or the EU have banned the ads. But we’ll be watching for news on that front…
While we’re at it…
Can PETA prove it harmed no animals creating the dog’s head illustration for its disgusting ad? Maybe the SPCA and others should get on PETA’s self-righteous tail about that!
~ Maggie J.