Kids' Ad Was Intended to Run During Broadcast of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Children's Programming

For Immediate Release:
November 25, 2009

Contact:
Michael Lyubinsky 757-622-7382

New York -- A frank new TV commercial from PETA in which a little girl says grace before her family's Thanksgiving dinner--and earnestly describes in her prayer how turkeys suffer on filthy factory farms--has been rejected by NBC, ABC, Fox, Nickelodeon, ABC Family, and numerous other cable and broadcast networks. PETA had designed the ad to run during family programs, including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so that young viewers could decide for themselves whether or not to eat turkey this year.

"Dear God, thank you for the turkey we're about to eat--and for the turkey farms where they pack them into dark, tiny little sheds for their whole lives," the girl in the ad begins. As her relatives react, she continues, "And special thanks for all the chemicals and dirt and poop that's in the turkey we're about to eat." The ad concludes, "This Thanksgiving, be thankful you're not a turkey. Go vegan." Click here to watch the ad.

The networks refused to allow PETA to buy airtime for the 30-second spot, even though they take advertising money from companies that carefully hide animals' true living conditions on factory farms and the cruelty of animals’ deaths in slaughterhouses. The Learning Channel said that the overall tone of the spot was "too disturbing for our family viewers," and Discovery Kids said, "Discovery as a whole is very conservative and legal feels that this spot would be too disturbing and traumatic for children to view." NBC said, "This commercial does not meet NBC Universal standards."

"Young people have a natural affinity for all animals, including the gentle turkey, whom Benjamin Franklin wanted to make our national bird," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "They deserve to know why birds raised for the Thanksgiving table have nothing to be thankful for. Rather than contributing to factory-farming cruelty, many kids are now asking their parents for vegan holiday meals, and turkeys--and the kids’ arteries--will thank them for it."

A PETA undercover investigation last year documented that workers punched, threw, and kicked live birds; bludgeoned birds with pipes, pieces of wood, and tools; deliberately broke turkeys' necks and other bones; stomped on birds' heads; forcefully shoved feces and feed down birds' throats; held birds' heads under water; cut turkey hens' beaks with pliers; and urinated in a turkey pen.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.