PETA has come under fire after its recent U.K. advertising campaign featured a woman holding a dead cat on a silver platter. The pro-vegan billboard seemed to claim that eating a cat is no different from eating a fish.
The billboard’s holographic design changed depending on the viewer’s relative position. At one point, it would be a fish on a platter, and the next, it would be a cat on a platter. The New York Post reported that the billboard was featured last April outside a fish and chips shop in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.
The billboard read: “Sea things in a different light. Respect all life. Go vegan.”
The nation’s Advertising Standards Authority said that it “acknowledged that some viewers would find the ad unsettling or distasteful.” However, the agency noted that the ad promoted a “vegan diet” and was intended to “challenge societal norms regarding the moral significance of meat consumption.”
The ruling said: “We considered that the cat’s depiction was neither gruesome, nor shocking, and was unlikely to be considered particularly realistic by most viewers. On that basis, we considered that viewers, including children, were likely to regard the image as relatively mild. For that reason, we concluded that the ad was not excessively distressing, or likely to cause serious or widespread offence, and had not been irresponsibly targeted.”
However, the ASA reportedly received at least ten complaints about the advertisement. Some found the billboard “excessively distressing” and inappropriate for how close it was to a fish and chips restaurant, where “children could see it,” per the report.
PETA shared a blog post ahead of the campaign’s release, saying: “The advert’s message is irrefutable: when it comes to suffering, there is no difference between a fish, a cat, or any other animal.”
“As a result, we’re planning to roll the ad out nationwide as part of our efforts to challenge speciesist thinking. We hope it will encourage everyone to leave all animals – whether feathered or finned, with four legs, two legs, or no limbs at all – off their plates.”
“From one angle, you may see a smiling fishmonger holding a dead fish, but from another, she is holding a dead cat. This unsettling sight has been erected by PETA to provide locals with food for thought. Fish – like cats and other animals – are intelligent, sensitive individuals. If you wouldn’t eat your animal companion, go vegan and don’t eat sea life.”
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