In celebration of Vegetarian Awareness Month, I thought it might be cool to list what I believe to be PETA’s best “GO VEG” commercials from the last couple years. Obviously, there’s bound to be some that I missed here — but take a look and let us know what your favorite is!

1. Joaquin Phoenix’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Before Joaquin Phoenix turned into a caveman rapper, he filmed a short with PETA that takes place in a supermarket. Phoenix appears happy joy-joy collecting items for his Thanksgiving dinner until he spies the meat deli. Then, well, the sad face appears.

In what has to be one of my favorite veg commercials, PETA recreated the classic look and sound of a 1970s porn set. The punchline is eating meat causes impotence — but veggie guys are ready to go. The ad was originally intended to air during the 2004 Superbowl but was rejected by CBS on the basis that it “might offend viewers”. The network also claimed a general policy of not airing advocacy advertisements — something PETA fired back wasn’t true due to CBS airing an anti-smoking commercial during the Superbowl. “Our ad has all three of advertising’s most popular elements — sex, humor, and animals –so the network should jump on it.” a PETA rep said.

Wait for the vegetarian guy at the end. I want his hair.

Striking at the heart of the moral issue of eating animals, PETA takes various quotes from the Bible and overlays them onto footage of factory farms. Some painful scenes here — but the point at the end is pretty cut and dry.

Back in 2007, Alicia Silverstone went skinny dipping to show off her veg-fed body in this beautifully shot commercial. PETA had originally intended to air the 30-second spot more than a dozen times in the Houston market, one of the unhealthiest in the nation, but was turned down after Comcast disapproved of the brief nudity. Most likely, it was replaced with something from KFC.

PETA’s most recent Superbowl ad took things a step beyond a 70s porn set and instead showed sexy models “loving” vegetables. Not surprisingly, NBC rejected the commercial on the grounds that it was “too sexy”. Some of the changes they requested PETA make included removing pumpkin licking, rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin, pumpkin from behind between legs, and licking eggplant. Honestly, who hasn’t tried all of those things?

The rejected ad proved so popular that Whoopi Goldberg even offered up a re-creation for the ladies on The View.

Get Ecorazzi in your inbox, once a week:

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →