Video: Family’s Holiday Feast Turns Into a Bloody ‘Christmassacre’ in PETA’s New Ad

It’s a violent night at the Christmas table in PETA’s new holiday horror short. What starts as a picture-perfect festive feast quickly unravels into a bloody nightmare, exposing the grisly slaughter behind the meaty meal that’s anything but merry.

The video follows a family gathered around a spread of animals’ flesh—turkey, ham, and sausages. But as they dig in, a torrent of blood suddenly splatters across their faces and the table. The diners carry on laughing, eating, and telling stories, oblivious to the carnage around them. Their indifference mirrors how some humans overlook the suffering of the sensitive, social animals they eat every day.

The video closes with a stark reminder that more than 1.5 billion animals are slaughtered in the U.S. alone during the holiday season. It’s a Christmassacre, indeed.

Unwrapping the Horror

The holidays are a time for warmth, celebration, and togetherness, but for the animals on farms and at slaughterhouses, the season isn’t joyful.

Turkeys are doting, gentle parents, but in the meat industry, they spend their entire lives in crowded sheds where they can’t bask in the sun, root in the soil, or raise their families—before being violently slaughtered at just 12 to 24 weeks old.

The story is similar for social, curious pigs who, in the meat industry, suffer painful mutilations from birth, extreme confinement, and violent deaths when they’re just six months old—a small fraction of their 10- to 15-year natural lifespans.

Even when companies package and deceitfully label their flesh as “humane,” these animals endure a lifetime of misery—all for their broken bodies to appear on holiday tables.

Spreading Cheer 365 Days of the Year

Every animal is someone. If you really care about spreading holiday cheer, you’ll keep them off your plate. A joyful, festive, and completely animal-free Christmas meal is easier than ever to create. Check out our guide to vegan roasts and other delicious holiday recipes.

And why stop at the holidays? Going vegan is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only will you spare nearly 200 animals every year, but you’ll also significantly reduce your carbon footprint and cut your risk of developing many cancers, heart disease, and other deadly diseases. If you’ve already made the compassionate switch, great! Now help someone else do it, too: