People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world. Founded in 1980 as a non-profit organization, it has its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, and a claimed 800,000 members and over 100 employees worldwide. Outside the U.S., there are branch offices in the UK, http://www.peta.org.uk India, http://www.petaindia.com Germany, http://www.peta.de Asia, and the Netherlands. http://www.peta.nl Ingrid Newkirk is PETA's international president.

Campaigns

PETA is well known for its aggressive media campaigns, public demonstrations, and attacks on large corporations for their alleged mistreatment of animals. In 2003, PETA received media attention for its boycott of Kentucky Fried Chicken. PETCO and Procter & Gamble are other examples of companies PETA says are exploiting animals for profit. According to PETA, PETCO confines animals in filthy enclosures, where they are commonly left to die, and Proctor & Gamble tests its products on animals. On April 12, 2005, PETA announced it had ended its boycott against PETCO, in part because of PETCO's decision to end sales of large birds in its stores.

Related Topics:
Media - Corporation - Boycott - Kentucky Fried Chicken - Procter & Gamble - April 12 - 2005

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jesus was a Vegetarian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PETA has created advertisements claiming that Jesus was a vegetarian, and other Christian-themed ads such as one showing a photograph of a pig with the caption, "He Died for Your Sins". JesusVeg.com Some religious leaders and theologians, such as the Reverend Andrew Linzey, support at least some of PETA's ideas about Christianity and vegetarianism.

Related Topics:
Jesus - Vegetarian - Theologians - Andrew Linzey - Christianity

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lettuce Ladies

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PETA's 'Lettuce Ladies' are women, some of them Playboy models, who appear publicly in scanty costumes made to look like lettuce leaves, and distribute information about the vegan diet. http://www.lettuceladies.com There is a lesser-known male counterpart to the Lettuce Ladies, called the Broccoli Boys.

Related Topics:
Playboy - Lettuce - Broccoli

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Holocaust on Your Plate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of the most controversial PETA campaigns has been their "Holocaust on Your Plate" campaign, which draws parallels between the treatment of farm animals confined and slaughtered for food production and the treatment of Jews and other victims of the Holocaust.

Related Topics:
Jew - The Holocaust

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Anti-Defamation League strongly criticized the implication of moral equivalency between the killing of animals and the Holocaust. A press release from the ADL stated:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PETA's effort to seek approval for their Holocaust on Your Plate campaign is outrageous, offensive and takes chutzpah to new heights. Rather than deepen our revulsion against what the Nazis did to the Jews, the project will undermine the struggle to understand the Holocaust and to find ways to make sure such catastrophes never happen again.

Related Topics:
Chutzpah - Nazi

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PETA defends this comparison on the grounds that it is not equating the two horrors, but illustrating the strikingly similar indifference that people showed toward both the Holocaust and now the mass slaughter of animals. The side-by-side imagery of slaughtered animals and Holocaust victims, PETA argues, attempts to implicate the mechanical ways in which humans and animals are killed as creating this distance from moral responsibility.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Name changes of cities

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PETA regularly asks towns and cities whose names are suggestive of animal exploitation to change their names. For example, a campaign was launched in the late 1990s to have the cities of Hamburg and Frankfurt, Germany change their names, since the names are associated with hamburgers and hot dogs. The cities were offered free veggieburgers for all of their residents for life if they agreed to the change. Both cities refused. However, these campaigns have been effective in generating media coverage of animal-rights issues.

Related Topics:
1990s - Hamburg - Frankfurt - Germany - Hamburgers - Hot dogs

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anti-fur campaigns

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PETA may be best known for its long-running campaign, "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur", in which activists and celebrities appear partially nude to express their opposition to fur-wearing. This tactic has resulted in widespread media coverage.

Related Topics:
Activist - Celebrities - Fur

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PETA also has a campaign "Your mommy kills animals," targeted at children, using graphic images of a woman killing a rabbit. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36208

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Comparisons to slavery

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The most recenty controversy generated by PETA is it's "Are Animals the New Slaves?" campaign. http://www.peta.org/AnimalLiberation The campaign involves a tour of the United States and features a display in which comparisons are drawn between various human uses of animals, and the suffering endured by black slaves during the Colonial era in North America. The campaign has drawn the attention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15000578&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=6

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~