UPDATE: PETA responds to the controversy in EDGE, saying that Fable II’s chicken-kicking “is done in a light-hearted manner. I don’t think anyone’s going to go out and start kicking chickens in their yard because of this game.” (Maybe no one will go vegetarian either.)
Wired notes today that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — did ya ever notice that the “e” for “ethical,” is the only lower-case letter in their Logo? — anyway, PETA has picked a Video Game of the Year.
It’s Fable II, which you XBOX maniacs already know well.
True, eating meat in this game makes you slovenly and portly, and chomping on vegetables makes you lean and quick.
But …. erm, … PETA? It’s a video game. There are no real vegetarians in it. It’s all (*whispered*) imaginary!
Last year Simon blogged about how Mothers Against Drunk Driving was all upset over Grand Theft Auto IV because the game’s characters could drive drunk:
“[W]hen you’re sitting at home pretending to drive drunk in a video game, you’re not out driving drunk. You probably haven’t even left the house for days. You are a menace to nobody but yourself.”
Same deal here.
In Fable II one of your more interesting weaponry options is a sort of helmet-mounted bottle rocket thingy. Which you strap to the head of your trusty dog, and let fly. Real animal-friendly.
And then there’s the XOBX “Chicken Kickin’” promotion. Did PETA miss this one? As part of the game’s pre-launch hype, players could collect Fable II “gold” by playing an online flash game in which they would — literally — kick a chicken for points.
I’m not making this up. Really. Cinema Blend also notes that killing rabbits is another way to earn points in Fable II.
In fact, the original “Fable” game had a sort of bonus round that consisted of nothing but soccer-kicking future KFC drumsticks all over the magic kingdom of “Dorks Who Can Afford Games Like Fable And Fable II.”
And the mini-game-within-a-game is back in Fable II. Or so I’ve heard. Really — I’m not a dork.
Moral of the story? We already know that helping defenseless puppies to assume room temperature is a PETA-sanctioned activity. Now punting poultry is also apparently “ethical.”
At least now I know why the “e” is lower-case.
UPDATE: The Escapist questions the value of vegetarian virtue in video-game characters: “My [Fable II] character was grossly overweight and a serial murderer. He ate meat pies by the handful, and killed the grocer who sold the celery … In the end, though, it didn’t really matter (outside of the realm of cosmetics) that my character ate meat because being evil wasn’t a bad thing to him, and Fable 2 doesn’t really punish you for being bad. Or liking steaks.”
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I think this all depends on what your definition of is is. However, I do dare this game to use this endorsement in its advertising.
Hmm, never noticed that before–henceforth I shall always call them PeTA. Because P”e”TA is too cumbersome.
Anyway, maybe PeTA just gets so excited every time something even remotely touches on their dogma that they just pounce and go, “SEE? SEE? WE’RE RIGHT!” Lucky for them, they just blow off the consequences when the world walks up and says, “Ah, no, you’re wrong.”
If they were simply happy with the fact that Fable II portrayed vegetable consumption in a positive light, then they could have patted them on the back verbally and left it at that. I mean, we all know PeTA can work a press release. But noooo they’re still too busy trying to get as much exposure as possible, and what better way than to dish out BS awards to make the media perk up its ugly oversized bobblehead. And it worked!
Actually, I haven’t found a single weapon in Fable 2 that involves strapping things to your dog’s head…and believe me, the nerd in me would have sought it out and FOUND IT hardcore. If you’re referring to the picture posted, that’s actually a Hobbe, and it’s a suicidal type of bad creature that runs at you with dynamite strapped to its back to blow you to kingdom come. Or Fable 3, I suppose.
I wonder if PeTA would love this game even more if they offered features like eating ice cream made from human breast milk. Or if they had mini games such as toss bombs, fake blood or flour on anyone seen consuming anything resembling an animal product.
PeTA will do anything to pretend they have relevance, won’t they?
If that’s what PETA does to “motivate” vegetarianism, that’s pretty shallow. If PETA wants my respect, instead of basing why you should be a vegetarian on pop culture and shock value, they should at least try to make it a little bit more about animals, and a little bit less about hype.
That update made me laugh until I cried! Virtual chicken kicking is light-hearted entertainment? Sometime they’re going to have to pull that misplaced “e” out of their name. Oh, wait, you know what, I bet they don’t know what “ethical” means. That’s what it is. They wanted to call themselves PTA, but it already was in use, so they said, “Quick, find a word that starts with E!” They would’ve been better off chosing “egotistical.”
It has occurred to me that even writing comments on Peta articles helps them further their goals and raise money, so henceforth I will be ignoring Peta completely. I suggest everyone do the same.
FS, I disagree with you-
There are still tons of folks who think PeTA is actually a good organization. They donate money to them because they love their pets. The more folks who voice outrage over their hypocritical, self-serving B.S., the better.
When a media machine like PeTA is working so hard to convince the world they’re worth paying attention to, the rest of us need to work hard to point out their flaws. They’re too big and established to try the “ignore them and they’ll go away” technique.
A cosmetics company I deal with now gives a percentage of their sales to PETA. I have contacted their marketing and promotions department a few times regarding this. Finally I sent some links to Deceiver. Someone from marketing then contacted me, said she had read the links and while nothing may change she has shared them with the office. Yay Deceiver!!
They’re right. I didn’t need some video game to tell me to kick chickens. Those damn things are running wild by the thousands in my neighborhood. Killing raccoons, people’s dogs, they even pecked the crap out of my neighbors cat. Hoards of the ravenous beasts. I won’t rest until they’re wiped out.
Hey I’m eating a chicken sandwich right now! So you know I’m serious.
Interesting stuff. PeTA seems to be ignoring the food vendors in Fable 2 that sell “Crunchy chicks” that you buy and bite live. Perhaps those are eaten live in a light hearted manner too.
You’d think PETA would back “Veggie Tales,” but I guess it’s a little too Christian for them.
Nah, SG–Veggie Tales teaches children NOT to eat their vegetables. I mean, who wants to take a big bite out of Bob the Tomato? After four or five videos, I’m ready to become a total meatatarian! Save Larry–eat chickens!
Maybe PETA should help create a new set of children’s videos and call it ‘Pork Chop Tales.’ Then kids would get attached to, say, Bob the filet mignon and Luigi the meatball and want to eat veggies instead.
Hey, it makes as much sense as giving props to a video game where you kick chickens…
Okay, MC Mom, here’s the plan: we’ll pitch the idea to PeTA and get them to kidnap a few really good 3D animators for us. Then we’ll make a series of episodes dedicated to humans’ reign of terror over the t-bones, our sadistic treatment of salami, our cruelty to calamari. Some dialogue we can use: “OH DEAR LORD HELP!!! DON’T EAT ME! NO!” and “TEDDY T-BONE! NO!!!! BARBARIANS!!! *inconsolable weeping*”
We’ll probably get bashed on Deceiver a couple weeks after the premier–I mean, I know I will, ’cause I love my meats and dairy–but some PeTA drone must make us rich in the process, somehow!!
PETA please quit leaving your brains in the ditch before you go out to be stupid