PETA's Bright Idea: Sexy Pro-Vegan Ads on Fresno's Streetlamps Would Help Keep City's Lights Burning

For Immediate Release:
June 7, 2010

Contact:
Michael Lyubinsky 757-622-7382

Fresno, Calif. -- After learning that Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin has proposed snuffing out 25 percent of the city's 40,000 streetlights in an attempt to help offset a $30 million budget shortfall, PETA sent the mayor an urgent letter with an offer that could help the city lighten up a little in more ways than one. The group wants to pay to hang banners from the city's streetlights. The banners would feature a photo of a bikini-clad PETA Lettuce Lady and the caption, "Get Lighter: Go Vegan!" PETA points out that besides being animal-, Earth-, and heart-friendly, going vegan is the best way to lose unwanted pounds and keep them off.

"Our proposal is a win-win solution: It would help keep Fresno's streets lit up at night and the city's residents looking svelte in the sun," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "After all, no one should be left in the dark when it comes to the many benefits of a delicious, humane, and slimming vegan diet."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA's letter to Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin follows.

June 7, 2010

The Honorable Ashley Swearengin
Mayor of Fresno

Dear Mayor Swearengin,

I am writing on behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters to offer a little help in keeping Fresno in the black--or should I say, out of the dark? When we read about your plan to turn off the city's streetlights in order to reduce the budget shortfall, we had a bright idea: We could pay the city to hang banners on its streetlights featuring one of PETA's lovely "Lettuce Ladies" along with text that reads, "Get Lighter: Go Vegan! PETA." This proposal could help defray the cost of keeping Fresno bright and safe while sending a valuable message that might also make its citizens and visitors lighter and radiantly healthy.

A vegan diet--which is free of fiberless, cholesterol-laden meat, eggs, and dairy products and full of fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains--is a natural form of weight control. Most plant-based foods are naturally low in fat and calories. As a result, vegans weigh, on average, 10 to 20 pounds less than their meat-eating counterparts. They also have better overall health: According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters are.

In addition, every vegan reduces water pollution, helps prevent deforestation, reduces methane emissions, and saves more than 100 animals a year from the horrors of filthy factory farming and slaughter. In today's industrialized meat and dairy industries, millions of chickens and turkeys suffer broken wings and legs while they're still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without being given painkillers, fish are cut open alive on the decks of fishing boats, and calves are dragged away from their loving mothers within hours of birth.

Allowing us to place our pro-vegan banners on city streetlights will help keep the lights on and the flab off Fresno residents while providing a green and humane message. I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President