PETA’s ‘Milk Triggers Acne’ Billboard Makes a Splash in Baltimore

Group Urges Teens to Keep Their Skin Clear—and Wipe Out Suffering for Cows—by Steering Clear of Dairy Products

For Immediate Release:
May 14, 2013

Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382

Baltimore — PETA’s “Got Zits?” billboard is going national. Just weeks after it went up in Kansas City, Mo., the group’s billboard—a play on the milk industry’s “Got Milk?” ad campaign—has gone up near several Baltimore schools, including Patterson High School and Canton Middle School. Prompted by a recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that determined that there is increasing evidence of a connection between diet and acne, particularly from dairy products, the billboard shows the blemish-covered face of a teen with a milk mustache and reads, “Studies Show: Milk and Cheese Trigger Acne. Ditch Dairy.” The billboard is located along Interstate 95, south of Eastern Avenue, and faces north.

“Teens care about animals, and they care about their skin—so ditching dairy is a no-brainer,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages people of all ages to help cows and stay healthy by choosing the delicious and cholesterol-free plant-based milks, ice creams, and cheeses that are widely available in grocery stores.”

A previous 47,000-person study by the Harvard School of Public Health concluded that the consumption of milk and other dairy products significantly raised the incidence of acne. A dairy-free diet can also lower the risk of cancer, heart disease, and obesity in adults as well as allergies, ear infections, and juvenile-onset diabetes in children.

Ditching dairy helps animals, too: Cows on dairy factory farms have their calves torn away from them shortly after birth so that the milk meant for their babies can be sold to people instead. Many male calves, who are considered a byproduct of the dairy industry, spend their short lives in tiny veal crates, while most female calves are destined for the same fate as their mothers: repeated artificial insemination until their bodies give out and they are slaughtered for hamburger meat.

PETA’s billboard is also headed to Cincinnati and Milwaukee. For more information, please visit PETA.org.