When Vanity Fair recognizes that the tide's turning, I guess it is, right? A friend of mine just sent me this cartoon from Vanity Fair magazine, and I'm not exactly sure what to say about it. It's kind of creepy but, um, cool, I guess . . .

Seeing that buffet of people parts reminded me that if you read Ingrid Newkirk’s will, you’ll see there are marked similarities. Not the least of which is that it is also kind of creepy but cool nonetheless.

About a year ago, I was part of a big brainstorming meeting where we came up with all these ideas for ads that we could make to draw attention to the suffering of chickens in factory farms that wouldn't be just, like, pictures of sad chickens. It was a great meeting, and we came up with a bunch of interesting stuff—ranging from funny to poignant to clever to (inevitably) just really weird. But after the meeting it sort of became clear that we'd just never have the time, money, or staff to turn all of the ideas we had into actual ads, market them, and get them out into the world. Which, you know, sad story and all, but the happy ending is that this year, the Young Guns Ad Agency held a competition for design students, advertising professionals, and artists around the world to make a compelling PETA ad about chickens. We've just announced the winners, and you can check out some of the other entries and vote for the "People's Choice" Award here. Here's one of the ads I liked:

Check out this new PETA Europe ad starring international R&B singer Jamelia. She's blowing up in the British music scene at the moment, so I'm really excited about this ad. Having been born in England myself, I love it when another local guy or gal makes it as big as I have in the music game . . .

My mates in the UK released the ad during London Fashion Week and it is making a huge splash all over the international press. My favorite quote so far:

I think I have a new crush . . . sorry Fernanda.

Back in 02/03, PETA conducted a 9-month investigation into a lab used by the Iams pet food company to "test" its food. During the investigation, we uncovered horrible abuse, including dogs gone crazy from intense confinement; dogs left piled on a filthy paint-chipped floor after having chunks of muscle hacked from their thighs; dogs surgically debarked; horribly sick dogs and cats languishing in their cages, neglected and left to suffer with no vet care.

Well, we’ve continued to work on the case and have just received very good news in a report from the USDA. The report confirms Animal Welfare Act violations that we found during our investigation, including:

• Untrained personnel performing animal experiments
• Failure to provide veterinary care and observe animals on a daily basis
• Caging facilities for dogs and cats so stifling that staff were unable to endure the ammonia levels
• Failure to provide animals with the minimum required space

The lab can now either admit to its wrongdoing and settle with the government or go through an Administrative Court proceeding.

I’ll keep you posted, as details become available, but in the meantime, remember to join these folks in the Iams boycott and only feed your dogs and cats food from cruelty-free companies.

We held a big press conference in our offices on Tuesday to discuss the allegations of two former Ringling employees, who recently contacted us to tell us about their firsthand experience of the circus's abusive treatment of animals. Both employees, who worked on the animal crew, told us they witnessed routine abuse behind the scenes, including a violent beating of an elephant which lasted 30 minutes. It was really nice to see some members of the media show up to hear about this breaking news—sad as it sounds, normally with this sort of thing we have to take all our clothes off (or at least show a little leg) to get some attention. But this is a great sign that people around the country are really starting to come round to the idea that animal circuses need to go the way of bear-baiting and cockfighting (there are only two states left that are still being ass-backwards about cockfighting) as something that was probably a really lousy idea in the first place.

A badger from the famous animation, modified slightly by our legal department

If you were alive and had access to the Internet a few years ago, someone probably sent you an annoying, yet utterly mesmerizing, Flash animation starring dancing badgers, a mushroom, and a snake slithering across the desert. The badger video has spawned countless imitations since it was released, driving legions of hapless Internet trawlers insane with its infuriating refrain. Well, those punk-rock, hopelessly in-touch trendsters over in PETA's youth division, peta2, recently put together their own little tribute to the badger phenomenon, featuring peta2's own Nugget, a KFC box with an X through it, and a friendly asparagus character instead of the snake. I'd love to show you the Nugget video now, but its release last week caused such an uproar over at Badger HQ in London, that we decided to take it down rather than anger the powerful British badger interests even more. I would have been kind of pissed at them about the whole thing (I really liked the parody peta2 made), if it weren't for this video that they put together to document the whole saga. If you're going to be this hilarious about it, badger dudes, how can I be mad atcha?

Check out how PETA Europe and PETA India celebrated Valentine’s Day a few hours ago. I love it. Love the bed, love the signs, love it all. As you can see, they’re a tiny bit more conservative in Mumbai than Dublin, but I gotta be honest, those wings and the heart bow and arrow are pretty hot.

Sky News in Britain did a really cool slideshow of both demos. Check it out here.

Wow, check out this photo of Victoria’s Secret supermodel Fernanda Tavares sporting our “No Fur” button. I got it on Valentine’s Day, no less! Of course, I got it from my friend Michael, who she actually sent it to, but whatever, I've never been one to let details get in the way of destiny ...

And here she is in a slightly different pose, in an ad she shot for us a while back.

Fernanda’s not just a pretty face either. Check out her quote from the interview she did while shooting the ad: "Fashion is supposed to be fun, but there is nothing fun about breaking animals’ necks and killing them with genital electrocution—common fates for animals destined to become fur coats," says Fernanda. "The fur industry butchers animals and pollutes our environment. I could never wear fur."

I love you, Fernanda.

Even if the cruelty of factory farming, the increased heart attack and cancer risk, and the environmental devastation caused by the meat industry don't convince you to go vegetarian, I'm certain that the prospect of being the sexiest smelling person in your office will sway you. According to a recent study published by the NIH,

Hott! Scientists sure do know how to make stuff sound sexy when they want to. Unfortunately for me, my fragrant vegan odor doesn't have much effect on my female colleagues, since (as you might expect) pretty much all of the dudes in my office are rocking a nonmeat diet. But if you're looking for a way to make yourself stand out from the competition with the dreaded Valentine's Day holiday looming, it may be worth a shot. Just so I've got my bases covered—for those of you who are already vegetarian but still smell kind of funky, you can find a whole range of cruelty-free deodorants here.

Remember Rocket Boy from the other day? Well, just when you thought we were all out of impotence ads for this year, we’re rolling out the pièce de resistance.

Nice work, Brad.