Anti-Dairy Ad Blitz Pulled From Checkout Lanes in Wisconsin Markets

PETA Video Opening Shoppers’ Eyes to Dairy Industry’s Cruel Artificial-Insemination Methods Deemed ‘Too Offensive’

For Immediate Release:
October 19, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

A new PETA video that was shown in markets across Wisconsin may have left a bad taste in the mouths of dairy “product” consumers. “The Pregnancy Gun,” a 30-second video showing how cows are violently artificially inseminated on dairy farms, ran in many checkout lines at 21 markets across “America’s Dairyland” starting on October 3—but after just two weeks, several stores complained that it was too “graphic” and “offensive” and pulled the video. In its place, PETA is now posting an ad showing a mother cow and her baby alongside the words “Not Your Mom? Not Your Milk!”

“‘The Pregnancy Gun’ aimed to remind viewers that milk and cheese come from sexually assaulted cows,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages anyone left with a bad taste in his or her mouth by this video to ditch dairy ‘products’ in favor of soy, almond, coconut, or oat milks; creamy vegan cheeses; and other nondairy foods.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that in today’s dairy industry, cows are kept almost constantly pregnant in order to maximize milk production. Calves are taken away from their mothers within hours or days of birth so that their mothers’ milk can be consumed by humans instead. Male calves are typically shipped off to be slaughtered for the veal industry, while female calves endure the same fate as their mothers: repeated forced insemination with the pregnancy gun until their milk production wanes, at which point they’re sent to the slaughterhouse.

“The Pregnancy Gun“—which was designed for PETA by the SmithGifford agency to mimic actual dairy trade videos—debuted this month to coincide with the World Dairy Expo in Madison and was supposed to run in Noor Meat & Grocery Store, Mother’s Food & Liquor, and Max’s Family Supermarket in Milwaukee as well as in Enrique’s Market in Madison.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.