Yesterday morning, PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk appeared on the radio show Montel Across America to discuss her organization's horrible "Save the Whales" billboard in Jacksonville, Florida.
The good news is that the billboard, which features a woman in a bikini and the highly offensive tag line "lose the blubber: go vegetarian," is coming down. Unfortunately, it will be replaced by another bullshit billboard. Former Jezebel editor Megan Carpentier writes,
Ms. Newkirk stated that the controversial billboard would be replaced with another highlighting the amount weight people can lose by switching to a vegan diet. Because, really, the only thing keeping every overweight person from a body type acceptable to PETA is their inability to obtain from eating meat, eggs or dairy products.
During the course of the four minute interview, Newkirk comes across as though she has the utmost confidence in her fat-shaming techniques. Sadly, she probably does. We've taken on Newkirk before, as has almost every blogger and media outlet worth its salt, but it doesn't seem like she's learned much from all the negative press. And as Montel points out, if her plan is to get attention for their cause, it sure is working. He says,
Ingrid, you have admit, come on, I've got it, you were controversial, you hit your home run, it went out of the park, I'm talking about it for three days. And the rest of America is going to keep talking about it. But the truth is, I think Joseph is right. Any child who would use that as a reason, or anybody who now says 'those fat people are people who pick on animals,' come on, we've got to slow down a little bit.
While we think PETA needs a much more radical change than to "slow down a little bit," there must be some good in having a discussion about the negative effects of PETA's advertising tactics, right?
Not really. Newkirk's response to Montel's criticism shows that her commitment to animal rights, at the expensive of human dignity and common consideration, continues to trump all else. She says:
I wish more than anything you can ever imagine that we could not be controversial, and we could not be provocative. I really do.
There is no other choice! We must shame every fat woman into losing their "thunder thighs and balloon belly." Thanks for clearing that up, Ingrid.
PETA Founder Apologizes For Fat-Phobic Billboard, Promises Another [Air America]
PETA's New "Save The Whales" Billboard Takes Aim At Fat Women [Huffington Post]