January 16th 2008
Pink Teams Up With PETA To Prove They Aren’t Just Horsing Around
Filed under: animals, campaigns, green and famous, transport — parrish @ 1:29 pm
I know some of our readers aren’t particularly excited about the fact that I cover PETA stories quite regularly, but this one is totally great…I promise.
Singer, Pink, has teamed with PETA to release a billboard in Times Square spotlighting the horrors of the horse-drawn carriage industry. This campaign comes shortly after the New York City comptroller audited the carriage horse industry and found that the city “abandoned many of its responsibilities and permitted some carriage owners to maintain their horses in substandard conditions.” Shortly after the report was released, a carriage horse got into an accident and died when frightened by the sound of street musician’s drums.
As a resident of the NYC, I find nothing romantic about riding around Central Park on a possibility abused animal, but I think many residents feel this way. What PETA hopes to achieve with this billboard is a greater understanding amongst tourists who might have a romanticized idea of the horse-drawn carriage.
My beef (no pun intended) with PETA is never their message, but more about their execution(again, pun aside). For instance, on PETA’s website, Pink said, “Every time I see a horse-drawn carriage in a concrete jungle, I point and yell ‘animal cruelty’ at the top of my lungs to try to make the driver and occupants as uncomfortable as possible.” See…like I think maybe that’s not the most effective tool.
All in all, I hope this billboard really does help spotlight the plight of the horse and encourage people to support alternative energy-free transportation, like New York’s wonderful Pedicab industry. Because when it comes to the serious issue of animal abuse, there’s no room for horsing around.
E
Oh but you still gotta love Peta. They might be a bit extreme, but they bring attention to the real problems and actually reach people in the process.
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
I’m not a fan of PETA they aren’t all good.
I think the graphics and the spokesperson are all wrong for this ad. It looks more like a spoof then something someone would take seriously. But I market graphic designers for a living. Perhaps I’m too critical.
[...] may have led the media blitz, but musician Chrissie Hynde led the rally for a PETA protest in Central Park to encourage tourists [...]