PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – has gone from an animal rights campaign group (well…) to the provider of vegan porn. PETA have been campaigning for years to bring the fight for animal rights into the forefronts of mainstream media, and consequently the minds of an unsuspecting general public. They state that they do this through “eye-catching demonstrations, celebrity ads and original ideas.”[1] For me, their demonstrations and ads are indeed ‘stop-with-jaw-open-in-disgust’ catchy and have celebrities in them that are not considered anything less than C-list. However, their ‘originality’ is only the start of where I feel their PR train has gone off the rails into a world only associated with fanatical extremes. They have been criticised for their ad campaigns that are not only considered degrading to the modern position of women in society, but also detrimental to the issues surrounding women’s body issues. Their newest business development involves a porn site that will lure unsuspecting males in with promises of XXX action, only to be blinded by the horrors affronted by animals on a daily basis. I don’t know about you but even the thought of having an aubergine in the bedroom, supplemented by a suffering bunny rabbit, is more than slightly disturbing, and doesn’t even touch the surface of why this is, in my opinion, wrong on so many levels.

Does PETA need to use such outrageous methods to promote rights for animals? Or are they just falling back on the age-old advertising rule of ‘sex sells’?

I spent five years not eating meat. In those five years no trace of chicken, beef or fish ever passed these lips and not even the craving for Haribo could make me break from my conviction. Now, my reasoning for vegetarianism was more to do with our obsession with consumption and humanity’s ‘crucial’ need for choice. Animals kill what they need to eat; humanity kills what they want to eat and then kill something else in case they change their mind later. Now, even though I have descended back to the dark side, experimenting with my want to eat meat again and my guilt in doing so; I have never felt that I had compromised my political stance as a woman when making these decisions. PETA seems to make these decisions closer together, supplementing women’s rights with that of animals. Now many groups who are promoting the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle are adamantly against the actions and imagery of PETA – see Facebook group ‘Vegans [and Vegetarians] against PETA – begging the question of just how close their advertising campaigns actually illustrate the views and political positions of their would-be followers.

One-liners like ‘Save the Whales, Lose the Blubber, Go Vegetarian’ caused a backlash from women’s groups raising the thought that once again the animal rights group had blindly pursued a campaign despite the repercussions to other social groups. I have, however, read many online blogs and readership comments that have cried out for women to get more of a sense of humour and to take these tag-lines less seriously. A spokesperson from PETA had these words for those outraged by their use of naked women, “it’s not a very feminist thing to do to turn to women and tell them whether or not they can use their voices, their bodies to express their voice.”[2] As a full supporter in women’s individual choices and full sexual liberation, the context still leaves me with more than a little bile in my throat. The pornographic use of women to hook [excuse the generalisation] a male audience, and the basic, degenerate thought that men will willingly fall and want something like this, is where activists, both human and animal, shake their heads at PETA in shame.

Many would argue that even by covering this story would only seek to give PETA more publicity and inadvertently promote the images and campaigns set out by the group. However, I want to focus more on the fact that this animal rights group may act coy when it comes to their ads, but they cannot explain away the statistics on how many animals they actually kill, rather than save. They have recently come under attack for using their enormous budgets to aid their media onslaught, rather than helping the animals that find themselves without a home or food. Now many, despite views on vegetarianism or veganism, can see a cat or a dog and give a little ‘aww’ sound. If this cat were to be without a home, starving or ridden with disease and you found it in your backyard, I think you would find it hard to turn your back on it and close the door irrespective of whether you eat cheese or not. Well, PETA puts to sleep 96% of all animals brought to its US headquarters and has euthanised over 20,000 animals in its company history.[3] I wonder if Pamela Anderson knew this when she famously posed as a prime piece of meat, cut into sections by a permanent marker.

This article may not tell you anything you don’t already know. It may be the first time you have ever even heard of PETA aside from Pamela Anderson’s pitch on the latest Big Brother on channel5. What I want is an animal rights group that doesn’t make my blood boil every time I see an advertisement for not wearing fur or for saving whales. Since the 60s women’s rights and that of animals have been intrinsically tied, with our dislike of jokes about vegetarianism and burning bras [fabrications of the media that PETA so adores] going side by side. Political awareness and in turn activism, seeks out those that are similar. The cause may be different, but the call for equal treatment and breathing a sense of fairness into society is the same. PETA does not stand for any of these ideals, nor do they truly care about the everyday domestic cat that finds itself unwanted post-Christmas period. As for their new porn site, I hope that anyone that visits the site truly enjoys the sexual exploration of having an aubergine in their bedroom – and doesn’t go on because they support PETA’s version of ethical treatment of animals.

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