Atlantic City Could Get Lucky With PETA Payout Offer—for ‘Go Vegan’ Ads

Government Shutdown Prompts Group’s Proposal for ‘Don’t Gamble On Your Health’ Ads on City Vehicles

For Immediate Release:
March 24, 2016

Contact:
Lakisha Ridley 202-483-7382

As Atlantic City faces a three-week government shutdown, PETA is betting that it can do a little something to help offset the city’s financial crisis—and every little bit counts when the chips are down. The animal rights group sent a letter this morning to Mayor Donald Guardian offering to pay to run ads on the city’s police cars and garbage and fire trucks that proclaim, “Don’t Gamble on Your Health. Go Vegan.”

“Atlantic City’s financial crisis is dire, but eating meat is a high-risk bet when it comes to heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s ads could help deal Atlantic City a winning hand with a little cash payout—and a reminder that going vegan is a great way to help animals and hit the health jackpot.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—is also offering to dispatch bikini-clad “Lettuce Ladies” to unveil the ads and deal out delicious vegan snacks to Atlantic City employees.

For more information, please visit PETA’s blog.

PETA’s letter to Atlantic City Mayor Donald Guardian follows.

Dear Mr. Guardian,

On behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our 3 million members and supporters worldwide, including thousands across New Jersey and many who love coming to your city, I am writing in response to news reports that Atlantic City will force a government services shutdown next month as a result of the city’s financial situation. We have a proposition that could be a good play for Atlantic City by providing you with a little cash payout while promoting healthy eating. We’ve designed an eye-catching ad that we hope will be a winner for you. It reads, “Don’t Gamble on Your Health—Go Vegan! PETA,” and we’d like to explore paying to place it on your city’s service trucks, including police cars and garbage and fire trucks.

Eating meat and cheese is an addiction that has financial consequences like high medical bills, but there is no toll-free number to call for help. Our ad will encourage city residents and visitors alike to win the health sweepstakes by trying vegan meals and thereby discovering a delicious way to lower the risk of some of our nation’s top killers, including heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes. According to one of many large-scale studies at Oxford University, not eating meat reduces your chance of developing heart disease by a whopping 32 percent, and leading medical experts have determined that in addition to preventing heart disease, a healthy vegan diet can even reverse it in people who already have clogged arteries. There’s no need to cash in your chips when you can beat the odds!

Every person who goes vegan after seeing our ad will save more than 100 animals every year from factory farms—where cows are often castrated and branded without any painkillers, cows used by the dairy industry are dehorned, newborn calves are removed from their loving mothers, and chickens and turkeys are crammed into filthy, ammonia-filled sheds with tens of thousands of other birds—as well as the horror of transport trucks and slaughterhouses, where animals sometimes have their throats slit while they’re still conscious.

Our ad is a safe bet to help deal Atlantic City a winning hand. We hope you will consider placing our ad on the city’s trucks, and here’s our ace in the hole: We’ll send our lovely “Lettuce Ladies” to unveil the ads and deal delicious vegan snacks to city employees. Please contact me to discuss this jackpot as soon as you can. Thank you for your consideration.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President