NBC Refuses to Air PETA’s Thanksgiving Ad
As a committed vegetarian, I’m often offended by PETA’s shock tactics. While I’m grateful that the organization has done so much to fuel the debate about vegetarianism, there are plenty of strong, commonsense reasons to avoid factory farmed-meat without equating pigs to Holocaust victims.
That said, I’m surprised that NBC is refusing to air PETA’s Thanksgiving ad, which is hardly too disturbing or gross to watch. The commercial features a little girl describing the conditions in which factory-farmed turkeys are raised while she gives grace at Thanksgiving. I think it’s even a bit funny.
The fact that NBC sees this commercial as too controversial to air speaks, I think, to the deep roots of our culture’s meat addiction. The higher-ups at NBC must have decided that it was just not all right to combine awareness of factory farming with the sweet, age-old family traditions of Thanksgiving and asking the blessing before a meal.
What do you think? Would you be offended if your family saw this ad on Thanksgiving Day?
Image: newrepublic.com
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Tags: ad, factory farming, grace, NBC, Peta, thanksgiving, vegetarian thanksgiving
20 Comments
snarky mama commented on Nov 25 09 at 1:10 pmI’m also a vegetarian, and I wouldn’t be offended. I’m not really sure, regardless of what your food choices are, why anyone would be offended knowing how their food got on the table.
baconsmom commented on Nov 25 09 at 1:21 pmMaybe they don’t want to encourage rudeness from children this holiday season. I don’t care what your food politics are, denigrating the meal you’re about to eat is flat-out inappropriate - and that’s exactly what this girl is doing in this ad.
LogicalMama commented on Nov 25 09 at 3:13 pmbaconsmom, please?! What the girl in the commercial is saying is far less denigrating than how industrialized our farming environment has become. It’s slightly humorous in it’s delivery, but it’s true! Just watch Food, Inc. or read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food or The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
GP commented on Nov 25 09 at 3:43 pmI LOVE THIS SPOT.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Nov 25 09 at 5:02 pmBefore I give thought to how the turkey got to the table, I give thought to how this country treated Native Americans and then sold them the line of BS that is the Thanksgiving tradition, but that’s just how I roll.
Comstock commented on Nov 25 09 at 5:10 pmIf only the Pilgrims brought a message of “go vegan” instead of “give us your land and convert to Christianity,” American history would have enfolded like a sea-to-sea love-in.
Manjari commented on Nov 25 09 at 7:02 pmComstock, that’s too funny!
I am concerned about where my turkey come from, and wondering if next year might be our first tofurkey Thanksgiving. I am also teaching my kids that it’s a day to be thankful, but not sharing any lies about the “history” of the occasion.
carefree childhood commented on Nov 25 09 at 7:56 pmI couldn’t hear the girl over the music
Botanist commented on Nov 25 09 at 11:23 pmPETA itself is too controversial to give it any airtime.
Alison commented on Nov 26 09 at 2:31 pmI do eat meat and will be eating Turkey this Thanksgiving and I was not offended by the ad. However, this ad isn’t speaking out against meat eating, it’s speaking out against factory farming. Somehow, I think PETA would still have a problem if people only ate turkeys raised on small organic farms.
Ri-chan commented on Nov 26 09 at 4:37 pmI can’t watch the video, it says it’s been removed due to a copyright claim by Peta.
Ri-chan commented on Nov 27 09 at 11:41 amI can’t watch the video, it says the video has been removed at Peta’s request due to copyright laws.
Ri-chan commented on Nov 27 09 at 11:41 amoops, said it twice, lol
Eric commented on Nov 27 09 at 3:22 pmLogicalMama, I fully encourage people to read things like The Omnivore’s Dilemma; but one must expose themselves to the other side as well. Far too many people read about the ‘tortuous’ acts we perpetrate on our food animals, but never stop to wonder why we do them. PETA and the like would have you believe that farmers like to torture animals, or the they do so for the almighty dollar. The truth is, torturing animals doesn’t pay. You make your animals suffer, they don’t grow, you go broke. Most farmers love their animals. Does that mean there is no cruelty, of course not; and I support sound handling procedures. Battery cages and beak clipping sound horrible if you haven’t seen what birds do to each other without them. I’ve seen chickens pile up in one corner of a coup during a thunderstorm and squash the bottom hens till they’re about an inch thick. I’ve seen hens with a little speck of blood on them ripped into tiny little pieces by the other hens. Nobody seems interested in telling the truth about why we handle animals the way we do. Is there a better way than battery cages and beak clipping? Maybe. Lets find it, instead of buying tofurkey!
hannahtm commented on Nov 28 09 at 10:12 amEric, Good point that we should look for a “better way.” But the things you are describing chickens “doing to each other” happen because they are not given ample space. And Americans want to eat more meat than it is possibly to raise humanely and sustainably. Though I eat no meat myself, I’m fully in support of buying humanely raised meat from small farms; the problem is that, even then, all Americans would have to cut back on their meat consumption in order for all of our meat to be sustainably and humanely raised.
And yes, sadly, the video has been removed. Just imagine a sweet girl intoning about the conditions in which her family’s turkey was raised on a factory farm, while the rest of her family steals disgusted glances at her, and you get the point.
Eric commented on Nov 28 09 at 10:21 amNo, actually hannahtm, I saw those things back when my grandparents were still raising their chickens ‘free range.’ Debeaking and battery cages are what people do now to keep that crap from happening. Also back in the free range day we saw nearly 100 chickens killed by a hawk in a single afternoon. This is what I’m talking about when I say ‘expose yourself to the other side.’ People seem to think that farmers want to confine pigs and poultry so that they can torment them; but, the truth is they do it for the animals protection.
jenny tries too hard commented on Nov 28 09 at 1:54 pmI’ve got to second Eric about the chickens. Even where less than a dozen hens will occupy a huge coop, they still pile on each other during a thunderstorm or when a dog is making noise too close. Wiht only 10 chickens, they generally don’t kill each other as often, but piling up is just something chickens do when they are frightened, whether they have enough space or not. If you want to look at alternatives to factory farms, Omnivore’s Dilemma does a great job talking up a “happy life, humane death” method used by a farmer in Virginia, and you should also check out the work of Temple Grandin.
hannahtm commented on Nov 28 09 at 3:21 pmI also have family who raise free range chickens, and I’ve seen them pile up, but there are never too many in a coop to cause a problem. “Free range” can certainly be far from humane if there are too many chickens, but you’re right, Jenny, that “too many” can be a very small number. So it’s a complicated question that I think can only be addressed if we cut back on meat, dairy, and egg consumption.
Eric commented on Nov 28 09 at 5:20 pmWhoo Jenny! Bringing up Temple Grandin gives me a thrill. Her work has been great, and I consider her handling guidelines on beef cattle my every day guidebook.
Rebecca commented on Jan 31 10 at 7:25 pm“PETA itself is too controversial to give it any airtime.”
QFT. NBC probably didn’t give a flying flip about the content of the commercial.
