This is almost two weeks old, but I can’t let Ingrid Newkirk’s preposterous publicity stunt will go without some comment. I know I’m supposed to agree because I’m a vegan, but PETA is generally a pointless diversion from whatever a vegan may seek. Not always, of course. Still, PETA’s better actions seem to be more broken clock theory than intent by the organization.
Anyway, as a vegan hearing of Newkirk’s will, I suppose should say something. I’ll outsource the effort to Ken at Poephat, who nails it.
PETA’s public relations strategy depends upon the premise that if people knew how badly animals are treated behind closed doors so that we might eat well and wear leather and go to the circus and so on, we would rise up and become Cirque-du-Soleil-appreciating vegans in shitty plastic shoes. But PETA lacks a sense of proportion — it seems willfully indifferent to the fact that humanity already routinely shrugs off far worse suffering inflicted upon people.
I think the post veers just a bit when it gets to a woman wrapped in human-sized meat packaging because PETA uses men in this way, too. I don’t see any sexism in this or PETA’s naked campaigns because the models, male and female, volunteer. But as Ken highlights, I agree that it’s stupid marketing. It misses the larger point to make the cheap, easily-refuted point. Ken does just that, and offers a much better approach that PETA could take. It won’t.
If you care, I hate Cirque-du-Soleil, but I love my shitty plastic shoes.
I actually kind of like my shitty plastic shoes too, now that I think about it. Or are Crocs rubber? Not sure.