Too-Hot-for–New York Anti-Wool Ad Rises in Minneapolis

PETA’s #WoolFreeWinter Billboard Shows a Man’s Crotch—a New Trend in Advertising

For Immediate Release:
March 2, 2015

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

To bring its #WoolFreeWinter campaign to Minneapolis, PETA is embracing a trend in which advertisers focus not only on attractive models but also on their crotches. Adweek‘s “Crotches Are King” study reveals 67 percent more engagement for such ads, especially if the subject is male.

PETA’s billboard—a video version of which was rejected by New York City advertisers for being “too racy”—shows a close-up of a male model in suggestively open long johns scratching his groin alongside the words “Scratch Wool Off Your Shopping List.” The ad encourages people to wear vegan—a PETA exposé revealed that sheep are cut to shreds, kicked, and punched by shearers in the wool trade.

PETA’s billboard is located at I-35 West near the intersection with East Hennepin Avenue at 301 Johnson St. N.E.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—may be the first charity to go “below the belt” in ads, but products ranging from Doritos to fragrances for Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs already lure consumers with this tactic. Curiously, while the male video version of PETA’s #WoolFreeWinter ad was deemed “too racy” for New York City, the female video version ran in Times Square from November to January.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.