Ingrid Newkirk on PETA’s buzz
This week’s Media Mayhem column at the Mother Nature Network:
A fly. Seven days after President Obama swatted the sucker, I googled “PETA” and “fly” together. One-thousand-one-hundred-and-eighteen news articles showed up. The first wave of mentions was speculative, as in: “The Onion ought to write that PETA’s upset at Obama.” The next wave was disbelieving, as in: “This may sound to you like a headline from the Onion: PETA’s upset at Obama.”
A handful of writers got past the visceral reaction: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals again displayed its unerring talent for drawing attention to the cause of animal rights. In this case, PETA didn’t even mean to draw the attention. A staff blogger happened to mention in a short post about “flygate” that “human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act.”
Newkirk on PETA’s lessons for eco-activists
PETA isn’t an environmental group. At least, not in my book.
That’s because, in the eyes of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, animal rights trump environment values whenever the two conflict.
From time to time, I’ve snickered and sneered at the controversial animal-rights advocates over their headline grabs, moral certitude and occasionally shallow grasp of many of the indirect, environmental forces that actually do harm animals. It was the snicker’s turn last week when PETA staffers criticized President Obama for killing a fly.
All that said, I find it difficult to argue against two qualities of the organization:
1) PETA does fight on the side of the angels. I mean, how else can you describe a group of poorly paid people who have given their lives over to empathy and protection of the helpless and abused?
2) And PETA’s damned effective at what it does. While it shouldn’t get all the credit, the group’s high-profile PR campaigns have played a big role in expanding empathy in this country for animals since PETA”s founding in 1980.
So after fly-gate buzzed by, I got to wondering what environmental groups could learn from PETA. To my surprise, Ingrid Newkirk, the group’s founder and president, was the person who return by e-mail with a call. Read more
PETA responds to Audrina Patridge’s hamburger
Audrina Patridge gets a pass from PETA for modeling with a big fat juicy hamburger in her mouth a month or so after doing publicity work for the animal rights group.
“Audrina is brand new to the animal rights movement and she is not a vegetarian (and has never claimed to be),” PETA spokeswoman Amy Cook wrote in an e-mail in response to my questions. “She has, however, brought much needed media attention to the problem of animal overpopulation by appearing in our ad urging people to adopt companion animals instead of buying them.”
Patridge, a character on MTV’s The Hills who’s slated to get her own reality show next season, created a bit of unintentional entertainment earlier this month by showing up on an ad for a new Carl Jr.’s terriyaki burger after appearing April 22 in an “Angel for Animals” publicity campaign to get people to choose pet adoption.
I know. I know. This isn’t exactly Read more
Audrina Patridge: If you can’t buy animals, eat ‘em
This is right up there with Paris Hilton wearing a “Vote or Die” t-shirt but forgetting to show up at the polls.
Audrina Patridge, who appears in the MTV reality show The Hills (and is soon to get her own reality show), recently became a PETA “Angel for Animals.” She posed with a star Chihuahua named Speedy Gonzalez for a poster and a short video. PETA said this:
During the photo shoot, Audrina told us, “I wanted to get involved with PETA because I’ve always been passionate about animals, and I think this is a great way to make people and all my fans aware of all the animals that need a home. And a lot of people go to pet stores and breeders to buy their animals, but you should adopt, so go to an animal shelter and rescue a dog.”
But it’s the tag line on the poster that’s particularly awkward right now. “Always adopt. Never buy,” it says.
Why awkward? Within a month, Patridge was posing for another shoot — except this time it was to promote for a new terriyaki burger Read more
