I know I’ve been harping on PETA a bit much lately, but it’s hard to ignore this gem from Columbus, Georgia:
PETA has nominated Aflac for a PETA Litterbox Award for using a live, young ape in one of its latest commercials, “Orangutan.” The annual “awards” single out companies that portray animals negatively or use creatures like apes in advertising …
[PETA spokesdweeb Kristie] Phelps admitted PETA does not know which agency the orangutan used in the Aflac ad came from. But the animal rights group is now pushing Aflac to pull the ad and pledge to never use apes again in its advertisements …
In the “Orangutan” commercial, an employee asks her boss if the business has Aflac. Her boss tells her they have “something else” and gestures to an unruly orangutan hanging from a factory light, which represents another insurance company.
Aflac used the commercial — which first aired in January — to convey the idea that there is no substitute for Aflac. It was the 33rd installment of Aflac’s commercial series produced by the New York-based Kaplan Thaler Group.
Has PETA never seen the AFLAC commercials?
Hint: There’s a freakin’ DUCK in every single one. All 33 of them. And if that annoying voiceover from Gilbert Gottfried isn’t an example of “portraying animals negatively,” I don’t know what is. But it took a hairy ape to get PETA’s attention.
I guess the pigs from Animal Farm were right: Some animals are more “equal” than others.
All together now, with feeling … AFLAC!
Jesus Christ, don’t these flowerchild yuppies have anything better to bitch about? Oh, wait, we’re talking about PETA, most of which are upper middle class to wealthy yuppies, has-beens, wannabes, and angry teens/college students who weren’t nominated for prom court.
If these people are so sheltered that they are offended by the relatively subtle abhorrations of mainstream media, they might as well just blow their brains out.
And finally and most importantly, PETA’s so worried about the reputation of all the widdle cuddly animals, but it’s never ceased to amaze me the lengths they have reached if only to offend and incriminate people. Oh, and let’s not forget about the whole holocaust incident they pulled a few years ago. Oh, sure, none of its a**hole members lost sleep over trivializing genocide.
What I’m trying to say is, PETA members get so offended over animals’ image in the media, but have no problem tastelessly exploiting murder victims if only to get their point across.
Bullocks.
Bullocks, indeed! It amazes me that PETA even gets attention anymore because it’s so hard to take them seriously.
I love you Christina X!
While I do love animals, and would never condone any cruelty or the like, I really often disagree with PETA. I like their general stance - animals have feelings, choose compassion, and all that. That’s fine. But holy s*** when they get in and dig as deep as they do just to find things that probably most of the time aren’t a big deal? Wow.
I can understand being outraged at animals being beaten, attacked, and treated brutally day after day for entertainment purposes (like the circus and such) - but to be completely honest .. This monkey in this commercial - I highly doubt that any one person on that set would even raise a finger against that animal. I mean, really? They don’t know the circumstances in which the commercial was filmed, but they’re going to sling their mud right away?
Come on PETA, get with it here. Not everyone that works with animals hates them - I would have to say that it is probably quite the contrary. Why not focus on the good sometime? Focusing on the negative all the time is really bad for your health.
The problem, Morgan, is that you and every animal lover disgusted with PETA are making perfect sense. PETA is made up of the type of radical that is so caught up in their own BS that they don’t know what sense is anymore. There was a time when they made the sensible/activist animal lover look as though they were not doing enough, but that doesn’t even apply anymore because they have shown time and again that they are a bunch of idiots, so they are now having the opposite effect, which is a positive thing. They will never focus on the good because they are like that elderly aunt that is not happy unless they are unhappy.
I worked with animals for five years and have seen a lot of these fools firsthand. I used to take them seriously and get agitated over their innane BS for days after an encounter. Now, I just laugh at them because they are so ridiculous that if you don’t laugh, you will be inspired to commit acts of violence.
peta? What’s peta?
That’s why I support the Humane Society…they have a clear agenda:
Bring the sick and / or abused animals in
Adopt out those same animals to loving homes
Chronic, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Then again, I believe that ANYONE who believes so passionately about something that they are unable to see things in color instead of their normal black/white viewpoint (which we, as sensible people, know is not how the world works) and will come close to causing bodily harm to someone to prove their point is certifiably crazy. Be it PETA or any other organization out there.
I would harm someone if they came after one of my pets, as they are treated like my children. Because they are my family (even if not blood related, as pointed out in a previous posting on a different subject matter). I eat meat, I don’t wear fur, I would gladly adopt from the Humane Society and plan on doing so, but have also bought a dog from a breeder. I still consider myself an animal lover. I’m just not crazy (well, at least not in that right).
I’m with you, Morgan. One of my dogs came with me from the US when I moved to the UK. She was a rescue and though everyone told me to leave her behind with a good new family, I couldn’t do that. I have another dog from a breeder that is a joy, and they are family to us. I don’t think any animal lover would go hurt an animal, and would be properly outraged if one was being mistreated. I know I would. However, what PETA does is sickening. If you respect life, you respect human and animal life. I eat meat, and while I would never go out and buy fur, I have some stoles that are classified as antiques from a different age when it wasn’t a big deal. If one of those freaks ever tried to damage those family heirlooms, they would be very sorry. Extremists for anything are bad news. They do lose sight of the big picture and end up going out of their way to draw attention to themselves by angering/hurting others. Sad.
PETA lost me, a faithful member, when two of its spokespersons (including its famous founder) came out a few years ago to defend humans having sex with animals (transspecies sex). Southpark actually did an episode about it, but apparently few viewers realized what it was spoofing.
The thought of alleged animal-lovers using that term literally, and boinking their pets (or being boinked by them), puts some of PETA’s motives into a new murky light. I’m all for animal rights–my animals are my kids–but when did having sex with adult humans become an animal right? And how can animals with the intelligence of very young human children consent to such arrangements? This is animal-abuse, condoned by PETA, WITHOUT the knowledge of most its members.
Ugh.
Anton, I didn’t know that. Just having read that makes me feel dirty enough to go take another shower. How disgusting. Another reason to hate PETA.
Not a reason to hate it, just to be skeptical about some of the things its leaders profess. PETA has done a lot of good over the years, and certainly made millions of young people aware of animal cruelty and suffering, but power corrupts, and activists of all kinds are prone to lunacy. I note with boredom that the same “activists” sceaming for abortion rights etc. in the late 1960s and early 1970s are STILL at it, the same “activists” screaming for family values in the late 1980s and early 1990s are still at, and the same drugged “activists” screaming for “peace” during the Vietnam War are still at it. These people are career activists, who can’t think of anything else to do, whose viewpoints never change or broaden, and whose arrogance and self-rightenousness only get worse with time.
PETA needs to clean house. The CRAZY old activists (not all of them) need to be thrown out and told to get real jobs (I suspect many alleged charities exist mainly for the purpose of hiring and supporting otherwise useless people). I’d be happy to send PETA donations again, but not till then.