Written by Jeff Mackey
Thanksgiving is hell for turkeys. To make sure as many folks get this message as possible, here are three of our best holiday ads. Pick your favorite and share with friends to let them know why they should give turkeys a reason to be thankful, too:
"Would You Eat Your Dog?"
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"Turkey Terror"
"Grace"
Give everyone—including animals—something to be thankful for this holiday season by celebrating with a vegan feast.
Written by Michelle Kretzer
After learning that New Orleans has been designated one of the most artery-clogging cities in America, PETA has offered to help fight plaque buildup with a pinup ambulance ad:
Nurse: © iStockphoto.com/Pavel Sazonov Ambulance: © iStockphoto.com/Jon Patton
Our ad could certainly help New Orleans residents reduce their risk of heart disease. Their number of fender benders, however, might be on the rise …
Salt Lake City turned into Sexy Leaf City when PETA's "Lettuce Ladies" rolled into town. The leafy lovelies were there to persuade folks to go lean and green in 2012 by going vegan.
The SLC "occupiers" even stopped occupying long enough to chat with the green gals (and enjoy some free soy sausage).
Want a figure so svelte that you feel confident wearing leafy vegetables? Click here.
Written by PETA
Sexiest Vegetarian alum Tobey Maguire made no bones about not wanting to sit on cow skin.
While filming The Great Gatsby in Australia, Tobey was a great envoy for animals, asking Bazmark Films to return the Mercedes-Benz it had loaned him for his stay and have the leather upholstery replaced with vinyl. The studio complied because, well, he's right about the cruelty of leather, and you don't mess with Spider-Man.
The vegan version of Nick Carraway has us carried away with his unfaltering advocacy for animals.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
In Wednesday's New York Times dining section, someone thought it would be a riot to take the decapitated, amputated, defeathered corpse of a chicken and prop the body up in a sexually suggestive "come hither" pose.
PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk was not amused. "When I saw it, I just couldn't believe that an editor of The New York Times would find it acceptable," she told The Atlantic Wire. "It's downright offensive, not just to people who care about animals but to anyone. It's a plucked, beheaded, young chicken …. [That's] necrophilia. It's not amusing. It's just sick."
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
Some have suggested that PETA, which has never shied away from using nudity to make a point, is in no position to cast stones. Excuse me? A key difference between PETA's ads and the New York Times' photo is that our models are willing participants who are still very much alive.
Is it a sign of how desensitized our society has become to the animals who are violently slaughtered for food that someone would think it a "sexy" joke to pose a young chicken—a baby, really, as chickens are slaughtered at 6 to 8 weeks old—like the star of a lingerie commercial. But picture in this bird's place the decapitated, amputated, skinned corpse of a puppy or a kitten. Would anybody be laughing—or licking their chops? Doubt it.
Written by Alisa Mullins
KFC has had to pull false advertising from its Australian website after a flap with a consumer watchdog group.
KFC had touted that chickens raised for the brand were "free to roam" on farms. But cramming chickens so tightly inside filthy, windowless sheds that they can barely take a step or lift a wing doesn't exactly qualify as "free roaming." When the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action against a KFC supplier for false claims on the supplier's website, KFC backpedaled.
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If only KFC were forced to do the same stateside, where the company has refused the recommendations of its own animal welfare advisors to eliminate the worst abuses of chickens, such as scalding birds to death.
Until KFC stops the charade, tell the company that you aren't buying it, and ask it to eliminate the worst abuses of chickens.
In honor of Vegetarian Awareness Day, check out the fabulous CNN Eatocracy post listing five reasons to be a vegetarian. TV host Jane Velez-Mitchell wrote it from her vegan perspective in response to the bully blatherings of a Texas chef who seems to have a ribeye where his heart should be. If you ask me, her logical and compassionate comments make his ode to meat look so weak that it could fall over if you blew on it. Our bet is that he has been deprived of good food and would change his opinion if he ever set foot inside Sublime or read the The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook.
Why not take a minute to join in the "great vegetarian debate" and remind everyone that vegan food is not only good for you—and animals—but also tastes great?
Written by Heather Moore
I've always found San Diego likable. Whether you're shopping at All Vegan, going to a museum, or enjoying the garden delights of Balboa Park, you can always find plenty to do there (without patronizing that hideous orca prison, SeaWorld). But my affection for San Diego may soon blossom into true love. That's because the City Council and mayor have unanimously signed a proclamation declaring October 2–8 "San Diego Veg Week" and urging San Diego residents to adopt a vegetarian diet for the week to help animals, the environment, and their own health.
How about getting your city to create its very own vegetarian week?
It's so hot in the city, you'd think I'd be making another batch of lemonade—but I've got a hankering for some Internet Soup. It's been a while since the last batch, so dig in!
Oof! I don't know about you, but I'm full after all that soup—and guac. This Special K needs a siesta. Until next time …
Written by Karin Bennett
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.
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