So it seems horribly objectifying women for no good reason wasn’t enough. Now PETA are preying on people’s paranoia about autism in an attempt to get them to adhere to a vegan diet.
See?
There’s so much wrong with this ad I barely know where to start. First of all, like all the insane anti-vax propaganda, it implies that being autistic is the worst thing you can possibly be. This isn’t fair on people with autism or their families.
It’s also just not true. There is zero scientific evidence to support what they are saying. The Telegraph said it best when they described PETA as “scaremongering witchdoctors” – they’ve also handily dissected the claims PETA are making.
This is a completely cynical ploy on PETA’s part, since their past actions, like showing images of mutilated animals to small children, have demonstrated that they actually don’t give two whiffs about the welfare of any kid, autistic or otherwise.
Finally, it completely undermines their cause. There are plenty of legitimate ethical and environmental reasons to eat less animal products, but by making up crazy bullshit like this, PETA actually make all of those real arguments seem less plausible.
In fact, their insane shock tactics make me so angry I actually want to eat more meat. I want to show up at their head office and snap the neck of a beautiful fluffy bunny and leave it on their doorstep as a warning sign. Just to prove to them that lying about science, that demonizing autism, that objectifying women and just generally acting like a bunch of deranged, desperate snake oil merchants is not the way you promote a cause.
It’s the way you hurt a cause.
Top Comments
PETA is completely out of line with this advert. I have an autistic sibling and I remember my mum being told to get him to eat less dairy as a 'cure.' I think she was beyond words. I'm sure most will agree that the dairy industry has a lot to answer for, and a dairy-free lifestyle has its benefits, but the link to autism actually weakens their argument for adopting a vegan diet in my opinion.
This being said, I am shocked at how you ended this article. "Snap the neck of a beautiful fluffy bunny"?!?! That is absolutely horrible :( It may be a joke but as a vegan (and as a human) this humour disgusts me. It's sad that I hear jokes like this often when people find out I'm vegan. They try to make light of the suffering of millions of animals.
I can't believe you would say you are going to sentence even MORE animals to captivity and death out of spite for an organisation that actually does a lot of good.
Warning: possible preachiness ahead. I encourage you to do some research into the meat and dairy industry, if you haven't already. If you are fully aware of how dairy and meat comes to your plate then ok, I cannot judge you because it is not my place to do so. But often its people who are ignorant about these matters that make statements like yours. I guess that's a common theme in matters of injustice and inequality, people just don't know the truth.
Anyway, my rant is done.
I'm sorry to see the message of this article distorted because of a few poor word choices :(
PETA..... People eating tasty animals!!!! Let's start our own group!!!!