Update: PETA Replaces Blubber Billboard With New Less Controversial Ad

29
by Michael Parrish DuDell August 24, 2009
Categories: Causes.

peta_whales-1

Oh controversy, controversy, controversy. Always so much controversy!

Last week my partner in crime Michael d’Estries wrote a story about a new PETA billboard in Jacksonville, FL that had everyone talking. The billboard featured an overweight woman in a bathing suit with the words: “Save the whales.  Lose the Blubber. Go Vegetarian.”

As imagined, this campaign created quite the stir and many of you commented on the site and told us how you felt.

Well, today PETA announced that they will be taking the down the billboard in question and replacing it with a new one that simply reads: “GONE. Just Like All the Pounds Lost by People Who Go Vegetarian. GoVeg.com.”

Of course not all vegetarians are stick thin, but it has been proven that vegetarians are on average 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters. I’m just sayin’.

What do you think? Is the new billboard more appropriate, or are you still fuming? Chime in and share your thoughts!

  • http://stimpsonwrites.blogspot.com D4

    It’s just another episode in PETA’s publicity-at-all-costs approach. They ran the offensive billboard knowing it would offend, and now they “correct” it with a nice message.
    “Your mom’s a fat whore.”
    …
    “What you find that terribly offensive? Well, then, I take it back. What I meant to say was ‘I’m worried about your mom’s unhealthy weight and I hope she’s not recklessly exposing herself to STDs.’”

  • http://celebrityblogblog.blogspot.com Kent

    Vegetarians, I think, generally would ALL be rather thin – but it’s the ones who still eat lotsa junk food who aren’t as thin as they could be. Just like meat-eaters. But ditch the meat AND the junk food and bye-bye poundage.

  • St Monance

    For truth in advertising you might also mention how many of them have serious deficiences in needed nutrients in their diets; how many anorexics are vegans, etc. What percentage of meat eaters vs vegetarians have food-related anomolies? The 10-20 lb. ligher comment is just more misleading advertising for PETA . . . who should be boycotted for their treatment of humans.

  • http://elainevigneault.com Elaine Vigneault

    When I went vegan I didn’t lose any weight. NONE.

    However, I went from a blood serum cholesterol level of 145 to 116.

    Health people, not weight.

  • http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9FD18926170ED901&search_query=earthlings Whoever…

    “you might also mention how many of them have serious deficiences in needed nutrients in their diets; how many anorexics are vegans, etc. What percentage of meat eaters vs vegetarians have food-related anomolies?”

    Why don’t you back that up with scientific data?

    And as long as we’re at it, what about the relation between cardiovascular (among others) diseases and the consumption of meat?

    I’ve been a vegetarian for approximately 12 years (now almost 100% vegan) and I’ve never had any nutrient deficiency or food-related anomalies.

    Please do not write about what you don’t know anything about!!

    Obviously if a veg*an doesn’t have a balanced and varied diet, (s)he will have problems.
    That doesn’t necessarily mean they must go back to eating animals.

    By the way, how many animal eaters become veg*ans just because their diet is not adequate? Hell, the large majority of the American population should then become veg*an, since you’re the fattest (with all due respect) people on the planet!!

  • Vicki

    I don’t like that they are saying that to be a vegan is the way to lose weight–the way to lose weight is to eat healthy and keep your body moving. Cut out the junk food and eat balanced meals & eat scheduled meals daily (preferably 5 times a day. If you choose to do it by cutting out meat, then you need to make sure you balance that out with other forms of protein. I personally like meat and will continue to eat meat, while trying to keep it all balanced and keep up the exercise and I’m losing wieght just fine thank you… I do however know people who are vegetarian and I don’t fault them for it, as long as they are getting their protein in. My personal phosophy is that we don’t have to “Cut anything” out of our diets to lose weight–the magic word is balance!

  • http://www.birdsbrains.com Inga Ambrosia

    Much better.

  • http://www.beforewisdom.com beforewisdom

    All other issues aside, I have to hand it to PETA with the cleverly worded replacement billboard.

    It would ring even more true if they used the word “vegan” instead of “vegetarian”.

    Dairy products can have as much saturated fat and calories , if not more, than meat.

    Dairy products are just as cruel and just as unhealthy as meat.

    A vegetarian diet may have been progressive before WWII and the industrialization of agriculture, but not anymore.

  • Georgina

    Meh, lots of talk no data to back ut up. Meat and to be more precise, red meat, has been linked to high (bad) cholesterol and certain cancers. Look it up, I work for a cance research hospital and that study was out about…mmmmm…perhaps 4 months ago. Does that seem healthy? Nope. You are what you eat, and unfortunately (perhaps unknowingly) meat eaters ingest all the crap agribusiness feeds the poor cattle, chickens and animals that will appear on their plates. Why do you think cattle is fed antibiotics with food (say GMO?)? They are kept like slaves, without any room to roam, and in those conditions disease is likely to spread…guess what you are eating meat eaters??

  • Susan

    The real key to losing weight is eating smaller portions. Meat, whether chicken, beef, port etc if eaten in moderation and you purchase the low fat no antibiotics packages it is better for you. As for animals roaming free. That would be a lamb that is kept still until slaughtered for it’s veal. Cut out butter (use a low fat spread). By the way milk,butter etc comes from (you guessed it) a cow. :-) Check the ingredients in your vege diet. :-) I myself have lost 30 lbs and I am not a vegetarian. I eat less. I exercise every day. I brought my cholestrol down from 222 to 159. :-) It’s not what you eat it’s how much you eat. “Read your labels before purchasing your product” As for the billboard, someone definitely did not think before they posted it. :-(

  • deena

    I heard a very famous actor say once about losing a bunch of weight for a film, he said something like ‘ you don’t eat as much, and exercise. It’s not rocket science’.

  • http://serenecooking.livejournal.com Serene

    D4, I think I love you. :-)

  • http://RawfoodsRetreat.com erin raw foods

    I didn’t know lambs were slaughtered for their “veal” Isn’t veal calf? Do lambs turn into cows?

    I am sad to see the billboard go. Living just outside Jackassville I mean Jacksonville I think the people need that kind of strong harsh message. It might help save the life of some poor fat sap who we have to pay the bill when he has a quadruple bypass…………

    Get off your ass or get a bypass. That should be the next one.

    One can eat meat in small quantities but it’s still destroying the earth and the future of your children and loved ones (and yours) plan and simple. That’s already been proven by scientists (see UN study)

    Jack Lalanne and countless others have proven you can be healthy and meat free and as far as I’m concerned its’ the only way to be.

    E

    • tesla1908

      Jack Lalanne is not a vegetarian.

  • kylo

    This is definitely more PC…not that that’s good though. I rather enjoyed the more confrontational advert. Yes of course there are fat and skinny vegans, but if at least one person got the message of “Lose the Blubber, Go veg” then it’s worth it.

    With this new one, I feel it’s a shame. PETA should know better than to back down…they are so successful with their confrontation. Why try to appease the lazy, overweight American majority? …Unless it was threatened to be pulled until they changed it.

    Unfortunately, it looks like fat acceptance prevails again. Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, OH MY!

  • http://veganverve.wordpress.com/ Nikki

    I agree completely with Kylo. This ad spoke the truth (other than it should say vegan not vegetarian…as someone pointed out dairy and eggs are terrible for you as well). Unfortunately the majority of America is fat and therefore was offended. However, the majority of people in this country that are fat are fat by their own doing and for that there should be little to no sympathy. In addition to killing themselves and driving up the healthcare costs in this country, they are also contributing to the massive slaughter of animals each year and killing the planet. For all this we should feel shamed for calling them out on their own self-induced issues? I think not.

  • Chuck

    Vegetarian, isn’t that an old indian word for “bad hunter?.”

  • Kelsey

    I am so glad they replaced the billboard – this one is clever and gets the point across.

  • http://www.greenstudentu.com McGreenGal

    The new sign is definitely more PC, but sometimes it takes a strong image to make a big statement.

  • VeggieTart

    Why do I suspect this was all a publicity stunt for PETA? They put up a billboard they know will offend and then take it down after a couple of weeks or whatever and put up a more innocuous bulletin board “in response to the outrage”.

    kylo, one can be fat and healthy or skinny and unhealthy. Yes, I am overweight. Yes, I have hereditary high cholesterol. But I am otherwise in fairly good health.

  • http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident Jack

    Wow. Smart, and oddly thoughtful. I like it.

  • Ruth

    To little to late….they are nuts!

  • CHANTEL

    PETA has always cared more for animals than humans.

    The former billboard was right along the lines with their values – the new one doesn’t validate those.

    I love my pets too, but once they start remembering that animals are NOT equally valuable to humans, then we can talk.

  • johnny

    Is this PETA’s attempt to get people to turn to their lifestyle by insulting them and calling them fat cows. How bout a billboard saying “Ready for a new diet that works, go vegetarian” brought to you by PETA

  • http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=has_peta_gone_too_far_with_its_new_billboard_campaign Linda

    Hmmm. Excess poundage gone? I lost abot 15 pounds when I went vegetarian 20 years ago. I was still overweight however and struggled to lose weight with limited success. 4 years ago I began including a bit of meat in my diet. I lost 20 additional pounds and still struggle with limited success. Don’t think meat or lack of it has much to do with weight, at least not in my case.
    Anyway, the point is PETAs highly offensive tactics that do little to help their cause and may even hurt it.

  • http://www.girliegirlarmy.com Chloé Jo Berman

    Veganism means healthier. Period. No question. My body (inside and out) has seriously changed since going vegan. How about the haters try it for 30 days before they open their big traps? xCx

  • Pingback: Veganism: A Diet for Weight Loss?

  • k

    what a joke, people were made to eat meat. Its how it was meant to be. you don’t see lions turning into grass eater do you.

  • Teng

    I can’t go vegan simply because I need my meat. Meat is not unhealthy, people are absolutely crazy for saying that. Trim the fat off and grill it, not fry. Just like how you can give bananas an extra boost of fat just by frying them! And if you really want to lose weight, exercise.

« PREVIOUS POST
NEXT POST »