Everyone loves a fluffy kitten or a squirrel on a water ski, and I’m sure most of us agree that animals should be treated in a civil and just way whether we’re meat eaters or not but PETA, the people for the ethical treatment of animals, are slowly making such a menace of the animal rights cause that some vegetarians and vegans are contemplating ordering a KFC family bucket rather than support PETA’s Kentucky Fried Cruelty cause.

PETA was founded in 1980 and has since become an international non-profit group at the tip of animal rights activist’s tongues. They have uncovered abusive practices in medical labs and slaughterhouses, forced the hand of mainstream beauty groups to stop them using animal testing and campaigned for pet owners to neuter their furry friends to prevent the births of unwanted animals. PETA are also the people behind the ‘I’d rather go naked than wear fur’ campaign which has shown many a celebrity for the hypocritical husk of a human they are when they ended up draped in dead animals again *ahem* Kate Moss.

And those things are great, unfortunately amongst the allegations that they support terrorist organisations – the sort of animal rights activists who blow up labs, kill people associated with animal testing and dig up people’s dead relatives to hold hostage – some of their campaign stunts have been nothing short of sexist, racist and exploitative I think it’s fair to say the sort of people who are going to give a shit about the living conditions of animals, even if they do end up on their plate, are supporters of many minority causes which seek equality for all, so it seems strange that PETA choose to publish triggering images and ideas as campaign materials.

PETA campaigners dressed up as the KKK in New York to protest against the American Kennel Club and they’ve continually likened livestock living conditions and slaughter to the plight of millions of Jews who died in the Holocaust. Nothing could legitimise the use of imagery which still has such strong implications in the world today and their effort to draw sympathy for animals only draws bile as it undermines the suffering of those imprisoned in concentration camps in WW2.

Their treatment of women is like that of meat, getting them as naked as they can as often as they can, Mothers Day 2008 saw a near naked, heavily pregnant woman caged in Covent Garden to highlight disgusting living conditions animals suffer, stripped models adorn their no fur campaigns, their banned Superbowl ad could pass for soft-core pornography and their faux porn site for the ‘Milk Gone Wild’ campaign really highlights their misogynistic and naive ideas of a women’s worth. Not to mention their gay-for-play Vegetarians are Sexy stunt, trans-offensive Fur is a Drag campaign and whatever the next horrific trick up their sleeve is.

From one point PETA’s campaigning stunts have become almost as laughable as their Sea Kitten idea, but the damage they do is serious and is hacking away support for their cause. Angry Vegan’s and Vegetarians aren’t really going to order that KFC bucket, but they will unplug their support, an action which will dry up their donations, something we can all do to demand an educated, rather than insulting, advertising campaigns.