Vegan Christmas Advert: Cinema

[InAMess2023]

Had a lovely festive day out with the girls yesterday and went to see Love Actually (20 year re-release). Settled down to watch a film and an advert came on... it's a cartoon turkey (voiced by Jane Horrocks) looking at all the Christmas traditions and singing a jolly Christmas carol... no idea what the ad is for...

All of the sudden the turkey (still singing) is grabbed and thrown in a van...we then see the full journey of it being hung up by the neck, electrocuted, and the screen goes black just as it's killed. The caption? 'Kill tradition this Christmas. Not a Turkey - go vegan this Christmas' - it's an ad for PETA.

Now I have absolutely no problem with vegans, can understand the reasoning around it, etc. but I don't have a desire to be vegan. Probably am a bit hypocritical as I am an absolute animal lover but yes I do eat meat (although not a ton of it).

Just feel like the ad was really inappropriate for the cinema and especially what is meant to be a festive feel-good film! Do I complain to the Cinema Advertising Associates/ASA?

YABU it's an important issue and you shouldn't complain
YANBU totally inappropriate - make a complaint

Behaviour and physical evolution go hand in hand.
Male penis for example are evolved to 'dig out' rivals sperm in a gang rape situation so the males sperm gets a better chance. Just as much an evolution as eating meat and eating meat at the insane current levels was not possible till very recently. (At least not for the ordinary person)

Like it or not in 2023 eating meat is a choice. Fine if you want to, crack on. But the continued existence of healthy vegans of all ages puts paid to the 'humans need meat' argument.

You want it fine. But I think you'll find the only way the majority of people like op can justify it to themselves is because they 'need' it. That's why the advert has annoyed op because it is acknowledgement that there is another way.

I mean if it's all fine and dandy and nothing to see here there's nothing to be mad about is there.

So are vegans actually saying we should just find more humane methods/better regulation around slaughtering animals? They don't want us to stop eating meat?

Vegans aren't a hive mind. Some absolutely support that. Others would prefer you examined your own diet. Reality is for animals to have the free range ideals most meat eaters imagine they live meat would have to become a rare treat.

As for humane slaughter. It's an oxymoron. Apply it to retrievers and see how far you get.

It's one way of thinking. David Attenborough is all for it as a way to slow climate change. If it's not your bag you can just do you.

If you were comfortable with your choices you wouldnt be having a reaction to the advert.

That was completely lame compared to Toy Story 3, I'm not sure PETA wanted me to find it slightly amusing.

I can't imagine they have to budget of toy story three.

But PETA regularly make themselves look like tits. They don't represent all vegans or vegetarians.

I donate to PETA, and you know what, OP, I agree with you.

You are a captive audience in a cinema - I also would not welcome one of those shock anti drink driving ads or an ad that warned about the consequences of smoking. I support all these messages, but there's a time and place. Maybe on tv, where I can hit mute or change the channel.

I am vegan. I would still have a poor reaction to this ad. Don't wanna see it, ta very much.

Yabu. It’s important that you should see it. We’ve all been conditioned to think the best industry doesn’t really involve that much cruelty, which is how you’re able to think of yourself as an animal lover.

The film is no more shocking than the Aardman film Chicken Run!

*meat not best (autocorrect)

Or Babe.

PETA are a bunch of extremists who even think it’s cruel to keep pets. They once targeted the PDSA (who provide free veterinary treatment for animals with owners on benefits) because they shared the same cremation services with a company PETA disapproved of. Personally I don’t think the cinema should be allowing adverts from terrorist groups, but there you go. 50% of Mumsnetters on this thread think it’s fine.

Are PETA actually violent as per a UK terrorism definition? I mean yes, they are a pain in the arse and have ridiculous tactics that usually involve naked celebrities, but I'm not sure they fit that definition.

Depends where you look. It’s believed that in the US, they fund out and out terrorist groups. They’re pretty extreme when it comes to attacking animal research facilities.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553027/

It's a good advert. I wish they would show more of what they endure. Why should we look away with our eyes at what they suffer with their bodies.

That's a long article in academic language. Could you please be specific about some acts that are considered terrorist acts in the us that have been used and linked to peta.

I'm not a huge peta fan, but this is the first time I've heard them described thusly.

That's a fair point, actually. It's strange; I don't object to adverts showing the reality of the meat industry (even though I'm not vegetarian). But I have to admit I'd be uncomfortable with an advert showing a graphic depiction of a late-term abortion from the baby's point of view. I'm not sure why that is.

I'm a long-time vegan, and I agree with you OP - I've never agreed with PETA's approach, find it very counter-productive

This

Is there something about eating meat that turns people into such precious snowflakes? Maybe it’s all the hormones?

People who support PETA cannot call themselves animal lovers. They are responsible for thousands of deaths every year. If you don't know about it, go and read about Maya, a little girl's pet dog that they stole from her porch and killed hours later. They eventually coughed up 40k as an apology to shut the family up as they were afraid what the court case was about to make public.

https://www.nathanwinograd.com/the-death-cult-of-peta/

You can't be an animal lover if you eat murdered animals. Give your head a fucking wobble 😡

Well, yes, nobody needs meat, just like the vast majority of women on this planet don't need to have children (we're hugely overpopulated).

Yet most women do both because they're natural human behaviours.

Yes, PETA euthanise most of the animals that are brought to their shelters. Their official line is that they take in the unadoptable animals the no-kill shelters refuse, but whistle-blower employees have told the press this isn't true, and that PETA routinely kill healthy animals within hours of them being brought in.

@SharSharBinks Nice cherry picking there, but yes the cruelty of industrial farming is part of the problem but if everyone agreed to end that the price of animal products would become very expensive and most people would end up eating a mostly vegetarian diet but to many want their cheap meat on a daily basis and ultimately don't care about the suffering they cause.