Is There a Softer Side to PETA?

When one thinks of the non-profit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, images of naked models or paint-stained fur coats usually come to mind. While most PETA members, including Senior Vice President Dan Matthews embrace this pigeonholed ideal, real citizens are left wondering why PETA, an organization with such a valid message, insists on wowing Hollywood-types with their sensationalism and thus leaving out most average citizens - children included.

With stunts like throwing acid on models wearing fur, having their coats ripped off, staging virtual love-fests on city streets to oppose eating meat or the, "We'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign, many of us are left wondering how all of this drama fits into the real issues.

While PETA has successfully used these campaigns to stop major companies like Revlon, Avon, Gillette and GM from testing on animals and designers Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger from using fur in their clothing lines, I highly doubt North Carolina pig farmers or fur manufacturers in Ohio are concerned with Hollywood-staged taunting.

PETA boasts 1.6 million members and is the number one charity for teens and adults aged thirteen to twenty-four according to Dan Matthews on a recent KQED San Francisco radio interview.

Dan admitted that PETA does its best work when causing a stink or coming up with a witty way to prove a point. PETA is not a violent organization, nor do they physically free animals in distress. They prefer to confront the corporations involved with animal cruelty. When companies like Kentucky Fried Chicken don't listen, watch out! Still, their unofficial slogan is, "More vaudeville than violent."

For Dan and PETA in general, humor plays a large role in activism. PETA is perceived as this foreboding dangerous organization but humor makes their borderline shady acts more palatable.

In an attempt to stay on top of stubborn corporations, PETA buys shares of each and every American company that slaughters animals or uses them for product testing. Whenever a company uses animals in this way, they are required by law to inform its shareholders. This way PETA can stay up to date on who is seeing the light and who continues to mutilate animals for various reasons.

To these companies, PETA is seen as a pure menace, like a flea to a dog. Sometimes CEOs of a large company don't fully understand the needless cruelty behind product testing or their own slaughter houses. The CEOs turn a blind eye to very real events and mostly care about profit and meeting demand.

Some companies are indeed swayed by PETA's informative charm. McDonalds was one such company after years of being pestered by PETA to no avail.

Back in 2000, the McDonalds Corporation was employing slaughter houses that failed inspections time and time again. When McDonalds didn't budge after learning the facts, PETA came up with Unhappy Meals, which contained games and puzzles and toys showing mutilated animals in an attempt to show children how their favorite fast food chain treated the cows, pigs and chickens used in their food.

This quickly caught the attention of McDonalds higher ups and they weren't happy, not because their way of life was being threatened, but because PETA was exploiting the sensitivities of children and their parents to get at them. Despite their behavior, PETA's act wound up changing the way factory farms do business in this country.

While PETA had another success under their belt, they had also succeeded in segregating themselves from the general public as many parents of small children were left outraged that PETA took it upon themselves to expose other people's children to these violent, gory and potentially scarring images.

Another tactic was the production of trading cards designed for school-aged children. These "Chicken Chumps" trading cards were similar to the Garbage Pail Kids cards from the eighties. They were funny enough to be effective and attention-grabbing yet age-appropriate enough to be handed out in schools and other official functions. The main message was to inform kids as to where their schools' chicken nuggets came from.

Though these cards were not gory in any real sense, some believed PETA was once again targeting children instead of teaching them in a proper manner.

So where does PETA stand with children today? While PETA is no more afraid of being provocative now than they were in 2000, they has taken great strides to become more child-friendly.

While most parents still believe they should have the first say in all facets of their children's education, PETA says for years, children have been the targets of marketing ploys by companies such as McDonalds, Burger King and even Star-Kist Tuna. These companies know that children don't want to know that their food was once cute living animals so they have been fed propaganda for years on end via targeted commercials.

For instance Charlie the Tuna showed up in commercials saying he tasted so good kids couldn't wait to eat him and Burger King once told children their patties came from a hamburger patch instead of cows. While this might sound like misinformation coming from a hippy, these were actual tactics used by large companies for many years.

The might seem benign but in this case innocence leads to further slaughter.

In recent years, PETA has softened some of its edges in an attempt to reach the masses. To help prevent domestic animal abuse, they have distributed dog houses to impoverished areas where dogs are often chained and left out in the elements.

Also, PETA has designed age-appropriate materials that teachers can share and parents would approve of. Some of their literature is spelled out in a way appropriate for first or second graders.

When reaching out to grade-schoolers, PETA now recognizes that empathy towards domesticated animals is the way to go. Some parents and even court systems shrug off violent acts towards animals by children - especially boys. I call it the boys will be boys syndrome. PETA teaches children about proper animal handling and that there are very real repercussions for animal cruelty even if many juvenile animal cruelty cases have been dismissed in some areas.

For teenagers, PETA produces more well-rounded education materials and public service announcements done by stars from popular teen shows.

To help with educating children through young adults, PETA has put together a few websites.

PETAKiDS at www.petakids.com is the perfect way for parents to introduce their kids to the importance of being cruelty-free. For instance, October is Cut Out Dissection Month. Kids are encouraged to have their teachers substitute lessons involving animal dissection with methods that don't kill.

Their website also spotlights Grrr! Magazine where teen pop stars tell PETA how they take steps against animal cruelty.

PETAKiDS focuses more on animal rights such as domestic animal abuse and circus abuse and small ways children can make a difference rather than more graphic issues. There are games on this site that might be more appropriate for older children such KFCcruelty.com's Save the Chicks, where you use a rescue bucket to save the chickens from their demise.

TeachKind.org is geared towards grade school teachers and is the official education program of PETA. The name PETA is not readily found on their website. Instead if you go to a small "About TeachKind" link at the bottom of the homepage you will see that TeachKind and PETA are one in the same.

Despite all of the rowdy ruckus-raisers in PETA, they are clever enough to realize that the stigma behind the name PETA might not be welcome by many educators.

TeachKind offers free materials such as comic books, DVDs, periodicals and lessons for teachers to use with their students. PETA took great care in making sensitive materials for their hard to stomach subjects. These lessons are a palatable and safe way for children to learn where their food and clothing really come from and how these animals are often mistreated.

PETA2 at www.peta2.com is geared more towards college students who want to get involved in the cause. This website offers a cruelty-free shopping guide, interviews from actors and musicians and lists ways that young adults can make a difference.

Unlike TeachKind, PETA2 has videos of a more graphic nature such as actual footage of chicken and cow slaughterhouses. These show full-out bloodshed in moderation (an oxymoron, I know) and workers violently beating these poor animals just to vent frustrations long before they are actually slaughtered. While the footage can be hard for more sensitive viewers to watch, knowledge is better than ignorance and nothing brings home PETA's entire cause quicker than real footage taken by insiders.

Where PETA2 is for the younger hipper crowd, www.peta.org, the main website, is not as sensationalized and is geared towards adults and anyone who wants straight information about PETA's causes. It contains everything there is to know about animal cruelty and activism without any blatant fanaticism that PETA is known for.

While many of PETA's activists are still the naked, Hollywood/Berkeley, fanatical types it's refreshing to know that PETA has become at least somewhat more open-minded when it comes to the education of children. Hopefully they will continue to see children as stepping stones towards a cruelty-free world and no longer use children as virtual hostages to gain the attention of large corporations.

Coming soon:

A rebuttal to, "Peta: The Unethical Treatment of Animals," by AC Content Producer "Shanika". So much information was left out that readers did not go away with truthful, unbiased facts about why PETA has been contracted to euthanize animals. Also, two bad apples from 2005 do not define the entire organization.