‘De-calf Your Coffee’: Vegan Message Percolates in State Capitals to Counter ‘Dairy Pride Act’
For Immediate Release:
May 23, 2018
Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382
As politicians from top dairy-producing states push the controversial Dairy Pride Act, which would ban the word “milk” from packaging and advertising for all milk unless it comes from “hooved mammals,” PETA is launching a campaign in these states’ coffee shops with cup sleeves that read, “De-Calf Your Coffee: Dairy Is Udder Cruelty. Choose Almond, Soy, or Coconut Milk.”
Among the targeted cities is Madison, capital of “America’s Dairyland” and hometown of U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who authored the Senate bill. Before June—National Dairy Month—nearly 20,000 of PETA’s cruelty-free creamer sleeves will also adorn cups in popular coffee shops in dairy-state capitals, including Albany, New York; Sacramento, California; Columbus, Ohio; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
“Learning of the conditions under which cow’s milk is obtained leaves a sour taste in your mouth,” says PETA Vice President Dan Mathews. “That’s why so many consumers are ditching the dairy variety for coconut, almond, oat, hazelnut, and soy milks.”
Why is PETA so steamed over milk? Cows produce milk in order to nourish their own young. But in today’s dairy industry, cows are artificially inseminated (raped by syringe) and calves are torn away from their loving mothers within a day of birth, causing both extreme distress. Mother cows sometimes wail for their calves for days after separation. Male calves are often locked up in veal crates, and females are sentenced to the same miserable fate as their mothers. Learn more here.
PETA launched the national campaign through New York–based Brite Media Group, which contracts with independent coffee shops across the country, and has plans to place the ads in more top dairy-producing states in June.
