People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was recently ordered by Great Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority to discontinue fraudulent claims it made about milk consumption in a campaign targeted at school children. But PETA claims it has modified its campaign to meet the Authority’s concerns and will continue with its anti-milk campaign.
At issue are more than 100,000 trading cards that PETA handed out to children. The cards feature cartoon images of children supposedly showing the ill effects of drinking milk. For example, one card features “Spotty Sue” who suffers from acne. The card shows the cartoon character squeezing one of her spots in the mirror with milk coming out of it. The text on the back of the card says,
Sue’s milk-drinking led to her battle with zits. Humans can have all sorts of gross reactions to cow’s milk. When you give cows a break and clear you’re conscience, you’ll get to watch your skin clear up too!
Other cards blame milk for obesity, flatulence, and other conditions.
After several animal agricultural groups complained about the cards, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the cards made exaggerated claims and played upon children’s fears and anxieties. It ordered PETA to stop distributing the cards.
Instead, PETA claims it has modified the cards to address the Advertising Standards Authority ruling, and will continue to give the cards to children.
Jill Eisberg of the UK Dairy Council told the BBC, “We are consulting within our industry about what to do next, because it would appear that a ruling by the authoritative advertising watchdog is not sufficient to stop them. Whilst we acknowledge that some people may be opposed to animal farming on ethical grounds, this is no reason to make unsubstantiated and unscientific claims about the nutritional value of dairy products.”
Sources:
Paul tells Children: Not Milk. New York Post, September 3, 2001.
McCartney backs animal rights group in school milk boycott. Robert Winnett, The Sunday Times (UK), September 2, 2001.
Anti-milk ad campaign ‘will continue.’ The BBC, September 4, 2001.