He said
PETA is attacking Thanksgiving and encouraging children to pressure parents into buying a nice tofurkey instead of a once-living gobbler.
Their holiday ad campaign asks children why they would eat turkey if they wouldn't eat their pet puppy. A billboard went up in Saskatoon with an image of a half-turkey, half-puppy hybrid.
They ask a reasonable question that has a number of answers. Not all of them would satisfy those staunchly against any consumption of flesh.
People, like most other animals, have eaten other creatures for an incredibly long time. Why we eat turkeys and not dogs comes from thousands of years of not eating dogs. I don't know why our ancestors chose not to eat dog, but I'm certain that because they made that choice, I make that choice. It's just part of my DNA now. In simple terms, I don't eat dog because my parents didn't cook it when I was growing up, their parents didn't cook it for them and so on.
PETA is absolutely right about protecting animals in factory farms. Many chickens and turkeys are bred to have unnaturally large upper bodies and healthy breasts, allowing their legs to cripple under the weight they aren't meant to carry.
Their bone to flesh ratio becomes something very similar to the people of the future in Pixar's Wall-E.
A little discussion between parents and their children about the sometimes harsh conditions the meaty portion of their meals lived under certainly isn't harmful. Discussion is important, and encouraging that isn't controversial. Young people asking questions isn't going to hurt anybody.
Sure, PETA's end game with the ads is to encourage kids to stop eating meat, but I don't think that will happen. It may just encourage a brief discussion about the role animals play on our dinner plates and how they get there.
Not consuming meat is a choice everyone is welcome to make. Advertising aimed at children is kind of a sleazy business, but in this case, hopefully it leads to a good discussion in the home or classroom and everybody learns something about their food.
She said
It doesn't really seem right to advertise with children in mind. After all, children aren't the ones out there spending money on the products. They aren't the one's buying the turkey for Thanksgiving supper.
However, I think PETA is doing a good thing gearing their anti-turkey advertisements toward kids.
The way I see it, if a kid sees an image of a dog dressed like a turkey with the writing "You wouldn't eat your dog - why would you eat a turkey?" it's going to bring up a lot of questions. One thing PETA does such a good job of is presenting powerful images. Seeing that turkey-dog makes me think of eating my family pet, which makes me feel nauseous and like a terrible human being.
But for children seeing the advertisement, on top of the scarring associated with imagining eating your pet, will make kids ask questions. For a child to ask a parent, "Hey, what does this advertisement mean? What are they trying to say?" gives an integrative parent the chance to step in with some honest answers. Explaining what PETA, or animal rights organizations like PETA do is educational. Kids deserve to know that there are other options out there beyond carelessly eating whatever hunk of meat is placed on their plate. And parents can explain the extreme beliefs of PETA, the pros and cons of vegan and vegetarian lifestyles and the parent's own reasons for choosing to eat meat at Thanksgiving supper.
Educated, inquisitive children should be allowed to consider other options. Being encouraged to ignore the problem won't teach kids anything. And letting them know about the scare tactics that are arguably behind PETA's powerful images could encourage them to analyze future advertisements they see. Smart kids who are learning about the world around them, rather than living with the blinders of a meat-and-potatoes eating family who refuse to acknowledge that there are other healthy options, really have something going for them. Try to explain and help them learn about each side of the meat versus no-meat story.
