August
8th
2008
So I’m sure most of you have heard the horrific story about the violent acts that took place on a Greyhound bus in Canada last week. If you haven’t, the long and the short of it is that a man attacked a 22-year-old boy on a Greyhound bus, decapitated him and then ate his remains.
Never afraid to offend, PETA used the story to bring attention to the 10 billion or so animals that are slaughtered each year for food. PETA said, “In the wake of the stabbing, beheading, and cannibalization of a man on a bus in front of horrified passengers, PETA is planning to run an ad in the Portage Daily Graphic that draws comparisons between cold-blooded murder and the torture of animals in slaughterhouses—making the point that slaughter should always be shocking.”
Now as you can imagine most people, animal-rights minded or not, found this campaign to be insensitive, tasteless and all-around inappropriate — including THIS blogger! However, VH1’s Best Week Ever were especially harsh on the animal rights group, releasing a Shut Up, PETA t-shirt and saying,
“Never ones to pass up an opportunity to attach their obnoxious hippie agenda to even the most unrelated of cultural events, PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment Of Animals By Annoying Everybody) has seized last week’s horrifying Greyhound bus decapitation-cannibalism incident as the perfect chance to remind people about the atrocities of animal slaughter. Because when you think about it, enjoying a delicious plate of smoked pig is pretty much the same thing as stabbing someone to death, chopping off their head and eating their flesh. Somebody get a vegetarian TV actress to pose nude, quick! I think I speak for many when I say: Shut Up, PETA.”
PETA is an organization that Ecorazzi often covers, and while we generally give them our support, I’m afraid we can’t on this one! Using shock value to prove a point is one thing, but operating in a tactless, disrespectful manner doesn’t do anything but turn-off the world and ultimately deplete your long-term credibility. What do you think? Was it appropriate for PETA to use this atrocity as a marketing opportunity? Chime in and tell us what YOU think!