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PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Anything but women

7 comments

Meg Kissack
WVoN co-editor 

PETA adverts have already been accused of vilifying women’s pubic hair (see WVoN story), but have now taken their sexist marketing one step further and are advocating violence against women in their latest advert.

If you haven’t seen it already – it’s fast making its way around social network sites – watch this video for their latest campaign: Boyfriend Went Vegan And Knocked The Bottom Out Of Me (BWVAKTBOOM).

It seems that PETA, the organisation that represents People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, don’t seem to count women under the category of ‘people’.

PETA has been aggravating me for a while now. Their website is full of pictures of semi clad women making out with a phallus vegetable to show that vegetarianism is sexy, or baring it all for their hatred of fur.

Surely, it’s as simple as this: you can’t have an organisation that campaigns for the rights of one thing at the expense of another?

Namely, you can’t campaign for animal rights while subjugating women and depicting them in such a pornified manner that you wonder whether you’re on a website for animal rights, or a special ‘vegetable’ edition of Nuts or Zoo.

But perhaps you can. PETA completely condones the misogyny that exists in society and treats women (and a few men here and there) as second class citizens. Their campaign ‘Fur Out, Love In’ involved activists appearing in Ireland, dressed in red lingerie and heels in a city centre, expressing their concern for animal welfare.

Their latest campaign certainly isn’t helping things. In their advert, PETA define BWVAKTBOOM as ‘a painful condition that occurs when boyfriends go vegan and can suddenly bring it like a tantric porn star’, which leaves the woman in the advert in a neck brace.

They also warn, ‘the consequences of all this mind-blowing intercourse can often lead to sex injuries such as whiplash, pulled muscles, rug burn, and even a dislocated hip.’ Great.

As well as this, they have a section for ‘Playing it Safe’, which consists of ‘tips’ for women to refrain from getting injuries from aggressive and violent behaviour by their boyfriends during sex. Because obviously, any injury they receive is entirely their fault.

Tips include, ‘Standard condoms are no match for your vegan boyfriend’s high-caliber finishing move. Invest in a heavy-duty variety for maximum protection’.

As well as ‘Vegan sex can be more aggressive than Civilian Sex. Which is why we encourage wearing a helmet during intercourse. You need to protect yourself. But staring at a conventional helmet can ruin the moment. So get a helmet that matches your hairstyle.’

While a storm of criticism is arriving, Lindsay Rajt, PETA’s associate director of campaigns and outreach, told Yahoo News that “the piece is tongue-in-cheek. People who watch the ad all the way through see the woman has a mischievous smile. She’s happy to go back with him. It’s playful.”

Well that’s okay then, stop reading now, we’ll forget all about it and go back to the world where there is no violence against women.

Thank goodness for some sanity though – there is a petition on Change.org which I urge you to sign, telling PETA  there ‘is NEVER an excuse to promote or diminish the real-life impact of violence’ and demanding the full termination of the BWVAKTBOOM campaign.

PETA has to stop objectifying women and depicting violence against women as glamorous and romantic. They even coincided their latest campaign with Valentine’s Day. Need I say more?

Please go and sign the petition so this vile campaign will be banned.

  1. vicki wharton says:

    That cheeky little smile the girl flashes at the end of the ad is the worst thing about it – it says to men – its okay to hit women, they like it. We are presented in porn and now the mainstream media as being a significantly different being … we enjoy being hit, raped, insulted and degraded – this is sooo redolent of the way slaves used to be portrayed in media of the time, Nazis used it on Jews, porn is propoganda and people are believing its message – women like abuse … so its okay to do it because they’re not normal.

  2. Alison Fairgrieve says:

    Re PETA
    i must be reading the wrong newspaper or watching the wrong TV but I have never heard of these advertisements or seen them.

    Why would an organisation devoted to animal welfare be doing this? Sounds bizarre.

    i am baffled.

  3. Jane Osmond says:

    @Alison: yes I find the ads completely bizarre too – lots of naked/underdressed women sexualised – and now battery implications too. Doesn’t make sense to me at all.

  4. Greeh Zen says:

    Quite contrary, the women in this ad seems totally empowered and in control….just a little sore but wanting more. Please be aware of the Mother Theresa syndrome in which you make people more of a victim so that you feel more like their saviour. .very common but dangerous phenomenon in the health care industry. Strong women are not just strong to be gentle but also to be a little rough if they choose…it’s called freedom.

    • vicki wharton says:

      Yes, but its not just about the woman in this ad is it, just like smoking isn’t just about killing yourself when you kill others around you. Portraying the fictious message that the woman in this ad likes to be hurt leaves a lot of people with the subliminal message that women like to be hit. No Mother Theresa syndrome necessary, just a powerful visual but ultimately fabricated message about a particular group of people that it has become fashionable to despise. Maybe read Freud or any other therapist on subliminal messaging or any text book on advertising or PR which are whole industries based on changing perceptions or behaviour through the media – with not a Calcutta based nun in sight.

  5. Greeh Zen says:

    And by the way, if anyone here commenting eats meat…they are even more guilty of abuse and have no right to question others. Read Carol Adams. Can you really be a feminist and eat meat? Time to wake up and grow up.

  6. Have no objection to this ad… except it fails to mention what happens when women go vegan… I assume we ll see some bashed up boys?
    Maybe someone should offer to direct the next ad…

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