Written by Michelle Kretzer
When one of Ricky Gervais' young fans tweeted the star with the message "my parents agreed if you retweet this they will buy my sister a dog & let you name it," Ricky agreed but with one important stipulation. "A rescue dog tho," he mandated. We would expect nothing less from the man who is a constant voice for homeless animals, urging people to adopt, never buy, and bashing greedy breeders and puppy mills. And like many compassionate celebrities, Ricky consistently uses his Twitter account to reach millions of people with animal-friendly messages.
We can always count on Ricky to get an animal rights point across while he's making people laugh. And Jon Stewart did, too, with The Daily Show's humorous coverage of Iran's launching a monkey into space: "Iran, you think the CIA is tough? You just got PETA on your ass, and those guys don't f**k around." We'd love to hear Jon's take on Funny or Die's spot-on spoof of Dodge Ram's pandering "God Made a Farmer" Super Bowl ad, "God Made a Factory Farmer."
And Waka Flocka Flame's hilarious Instagram photo had us laughing at how ridiculous people look in fur:
Happily, Beyoncé went fur-free at the Super Bowl, but she draped herself in python skin, iguana skin, and leather instead. PETA is urging the singer to take a cue from other beautiful, talented performers such as Carrie Underwood, who puts on a dynamic show in cruelty-free fashions.
And it was the epitome of a dynamic cruelty-free show when Vaute Couture designer Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart presented the first completely vegan runway show at New York Fashion Week. Celebrities are flocking to the line, which is named after "haute couture" but spelled with a "v" for vegan.
New York isn't the only city celebrating cruelty-free fashion. Across the pond, our affiliate PETA U.K. presented the first-ever Vegan Fashion Awards, with celeb judges Sadie Frost and Meg Mathews honoring animal-friendly fashion from top designers and retailers such as Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, and Topshop.
To keep up with what all your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Ravens weren't the only winning animals in Super Bowl XLVII. Great apes finally got a reprieve when CareerBuilder at long last decided to stop dressing up chimpanzees in business suits and featuring them in ads about immature coworkers. The ads were unintentionally ironic, since the chimpanzees truly were immature, as in babies. Thank the football gods that CareerBuilder decided to retire those idiotic ads before Ray Lewis got his first hip replacement.
In fact, no great apes were used in any Super Bowl commercial this year, the first year since all the top 10 U.S. advertising agencies pledged never to use great apes in their advertising after meeting with PETA.
As shown in PETA's video exposé, narrated by Anjelica Huston, great apes are torn away from their mothers shortly after birth and are beaten in order to force them to perform. Once they get too powerful and dangerous to control, they are often discarded at dismal roadside zoos.
Great apes weren't the only animals given the day off. Most of the exotic animals featured in the Super Bowl ads were computer generated, not that the average viewer could tell the difference. It makes a big difference to the animals, though, when advertisers opt for realistic computer-generated imagery and animatronic stand-ins and refrain from subjecting real animals to the rigors and abuse of training both on the set and off.
During a PETA undercover investigation of a facility that trains big cats, we documented that the animals were deprived of food, dragged by chains around their necks, hit in the face, and smashed over the head with ax handles. When they're not being forced to perform, exotic animals are confined almost constantly to cages and chains.
If this Super Bowl is any indication, cutting-edge companies seem to be recognizing that compassionate customers are turned off by animal abuse and will tune out cruel ads—because the only squirrel dance that we want to see during the Super Bowl features a burly linebacker.
If you saw CareerBuilder's latest Super Bowl ad, you probably thought it was as lame as we did, which is why we came up with an ad of our own in response. Unfortunately, we received a "thanks, but no thanks" from Clear Channel Outdoor in CareerBuilder's hometown of Chicago, after we asked to place this billboard near a CareerBuilder vice president's neighborhood:
While we may not have gotten the billboard placed, at least we're not feeling like Tom Brady and the Pats today.
With your help, not even the Giants defense could stop us from telling CareerBuilder to can the cruel chimpanzee ads.
Written by PETA
I'll admit I'm not a huge football follower—maybe because Houston's pro teams have tended to play like a bunch of injured nursing-home residents—but I know that the current NFL lockout is making anxious fans unhappy. However, if you're also a fan of chickens (and there are lots of reasons to be one), buck up—your pain could be their gain!
Sales of chicken wings tend to skyrocket on football game days (especially the Super Bowl), so some mother-plucking chicken-flesh peddlers are worried that if the football season is kaput, so is their wing-selling biz. Well, boo hoo. (Though if anything's keeping them up nights, it should be what they're doing to those birds.)
If the show season does go on, all you true-blue fans can still cheer on your team while helping our feathered friends—just serve up some tasty vegan "wings" at your viewing parties. And to make sure you've got game-day cred, check out what vegetarian NFL star Ricky Williams found when he held a faux-wing taste test.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Here's some monkey business that PETA applauds: BBDO's clever, cute, and completely animal-friendly new ad for GE, featuring snow monkeys who are undisturbed in their natural habitat. There's even an animatronic monkey "hand"—watch for it:
This isn't the only masterpiece from BBDO. Remember Monster.com's fiddle-playing animatronic beaver ad? That was by BBDO too. (Pop-culture mea culpa: I didn't watch the Super Bowl—I know, I know. But after watching the Monster.com ad, I'm wondering what other memorable moments I missed out on. C'est la vie.)
BBDO's innovative work and pledge never to use great apes in ads means that the agency has rejected industry exploitation of animals who are stolen from their mothers, locked in tiny cages, and subjected to daily intimidation and beatings before they are dumped at wretched roadside zoos when they grow too strong or old to perform.
For its commitment to using alternatives to animal "actors," BBDO is the newest recipient of our Humane Ad Agency Award. Of course, many other companies still abuse animals in order to sell their products. Won't you take a cue from BBDO and find out more about what you can do to help animals who are abused in the entertainment industry?
Written by Heather Drennan
It seems like everybody has an opinion about "Octomom" Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to eight babies last year. No matter where you stand on that decision, starring in porn isn't Suleman's only option to remedy the recently rumored foreclosure proceedings on her home in La Habra, Calif. In fact, PETA is offering to bolster her finances by paying to place an ad on her front lawn:
Massive media attention is aimed at covering Octomom's every move, and it's time to put that attention to good use. After all, Americans need to know that millions of dogs and cats end up in animal shelters every year, and half of them are euthanized simply because there aren't enough good homes. Countless other homeless dogs and cats suffer on the streets—dodging cars, enduring attacks by other animals and cruel humans, and suffering from disease and starvation. People need to know that the solution to so much of this suffering couldn't be simpler: Spay or neuter your animal companions.
After all, however one might feel about Octomom, I think we can all agree that for puppies and kittens, one litter is one too many.
Written by Karin Bennett
Gorgeous, voluptuous, and sexy: All of those words describe actor/singer Scarlett Johansson. And now that she's the newest luminary to show support for the Healthy School Meals Act, we can add "humanitarian" and "friend to animals" to the list.
If launched, this $4 million pilot program will ingrain (sorry, couldn't resist) vegetarian food and drinks into school districts' lunch programs over a two-year period. In her letter, Scarlett points out, "Millions of families in America rely on subsidized school lunches, and these meals are absolutely crucial to children's well-being." The Healthy School Meals Act will give kids a chance to develop healthy eating habits that center on nutritious plant-based fare, instead of body parts from stressed, mutilated, and exhausted animals.
By joining Spiderman's Tobey Maguire and health experts around the country in this effort, Scarlett has revealed her smarts and her 24-carrot heart of gold. (Oh, yes, I did.)
Folks, I have to tell you that I am freaking out about a recent government bill.
No, no—I don't mean that one. I'm talking about this one, which would allow barbershops in Tennessee to display live animals in bird cages and fish tanks for "decorative purposes."
Before Gov. Phil Bredesen puts his John Hancock on the legislation, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman is weighing in and asking him to veto the bill. Why? Because stealing fish and birds from their native homes is cruel: Animals who are kept in tanks and cages are sentenced to a life of boredom, depression, and frustration, and many are subjected to neglect and mistreatment by owners who fail to understand their prisoners' complex needs.
There's no doubt that barbershop customers and spa patrons will breathe a sigh of relief if the current law banning such displays remains in effect—after all, as Jasmine the cockatoo will tell you, not only are caged birds quick to complain about their confines (loudly and repeatedly), some can also pass along diseases such as psittacosis to humans.
PETA is even ready to offer decorating tips. I think that this animal-friendly alternative is a cut above the tanks and cages. Don't you?
Take it from someone who uses the Super Bowl as a bathroom break to get back to the main-event (commercials!): This year, the ads that were shown during the big game made history with their creative alternatives to live animals. Check out our five animal-friendly favorites:
Animatronics have sure come a long way since the Country Bear Jamboree. We need to get Monster.com on the Punxsutawney Phil case stat!
What was your favorite Super Bowl ad?
Written by Logan Scherer
Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams already has enough accolades to span two lifetimes—Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Pro Bowl MVP, to name a few—and after he reigned over our Faux–Chicken Wing Taste Test today, we'd like to dub him an MVP: Most Valuable Palate.
The vegetarian NFL star hosted our event at his restaurant, Proof, in Miami. The winning wings may have been gardein buffalo wings, but considering all the chickens who got to keep their own wings, all the arteries that didn't get clogged, and all the taste buds that were more-than-tickled, it sounds to me like the party left everyone happy!
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
Follow PETA on Twitter!