Monday, September 21, 2009

PETA's Whale of a Time is Over

PETA has been generating a bit of controversy lately regarding their penchant for featuring scantily clad models and celebrities in their ads to encourage eating a vegetarian diet and supporting animal rights. Their latest model, however, had to be replaced.

A Jacksonville, Florida billboard campaign showcased a rear view of an obese woman with the tagline, “Save the Whales – Lose the Blubber. Go Vegetarian.” The attitude that “trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach” (a quote from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman) riled many who considered the advertisement to be sexist and demeaning to women.

About a week after erecting the blubber billboard PETA announced that they will be replacing it with a more benign version:

Another whale-related campaign by PETA encouraged people to “Eat the Whales”. The idea behind this was to start a discussion as to whether or not it is preferable to kill one sizable animal in order to feed many, or to kill scores of “lesser” animals to feed the same. The ad also asks where and why lines are drawn to divide animals into two segments: acceptable for consumption, and not acceptable.

Though this topic may have been a bit weightier in terms of moral issues, it did not attract nearly as much attention as the “whale” woman.

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