PETA Unhappy Meals Targeting Kids

[Twoyboy]

Could it be that at least some parents aren't upset at the basic information, but the way it is presented? It's one thing to teach a six year old that poultry and beef start out as chickens and cows. It's another to give them pictures of a scary knife-wielding clown with the words "broken bones and scalded alive" under him.

This is the bit that I was a little upset with. Ronald McDonald is supposed to be a friendly icon. Now, as much as I hate the McDonald's marketing machine, the wrong thing to do is to make the kids afraid by making him out to be a psycho slasher who tortures animals for fun.

But to tell the truth, I love it when PETA pull stunts like this - the crazier they get the further they removed themselves from being well regarded by the general public.

Nor do I want to think about vegetables I'm going to eat growing in dirt and having the occasional bug crawling on them, or about the fact that there's insect parts in everything we eat. It's not good for my appetite.

What's wrong with insect parts? Nice crunchy protein, and vastly less likely to contain pathogens capable of making you ill than the mammal or avian meat.

Eh, they're just icky.

It's not a rational thing, but then if people were rational about food we'd all be grimly gnawing on some sort of tasteless "scientifically balanced for nutrition" wafers and drinking plain water.

I have no problem with the insects... so long as it's not cockroaches... seriously they freak me out majorly.

[Zwinmar]

Maybe its just me, but when I see a pig, cow, deer, chicken, etc.. I automatically think "dinner." But, then again I have no problem slaughtering and butchering my own meat.

[RedImperator]

Maybe its just me, but when I see a pig, cow, deer, chicken, etc.. I automatically think "dinner." But, then again I have no problem slaughtering and butchering my own meat.

You're in the minority. It America at least, it seems like most people would rather pretend meat comes from the supermarket. If pressed, they might go so far as to acknowledge it's delivered by a truck. PETA's thinking probably goes like this: "If we shock kids (and maybe their parents) with graphic images of where meat actually comes from, many of them will convert to vegetarianism". And the thing is, while I think their method here is so over-the-top as to be ineffective, I do think they have a point: there is probably a population of meat-eaters out there who would stop eating meat if they were actually cognizant of the entire process--especially modern factory farming, where the horror show ends at the slaughterhouse.

[Broomstick]

One of the reasons my mother-in-law is vegetarian is because she grew up on a farm and didn't like what was involved in slaughtering animals. So yes, there is a subset of people who, if they knew where meat really comes from, wouldn't eat it.

On the other hand, what PeTA doesn't seem to understand, is that there are a lot of people who won't stop eating meat even if they have to do the bloody work themselves.

[Pick]

I think PETA has a point, too. The average person is much too far removed from the idea of where their food originates. However, they're so radical (and foolish), they're promptly rebuked without much thought.

[Darth Wong]

I personally have an objection to this on the grounds that clowns are scary enough when you're like, six. You don't need to see them covered in blood with a knife too.

Seriously, that's just cruel to children with clown-fear - and clearly some kind of violation of a disabilities act!

Children with clown fear will not be fans of Ronald McDonald anyway. And I have to say that if a child can't handle a picture of Ronald McDonald holding a bloody chicken, he should stop eating chicken. Is it "cruel" for kids to grow up on farms, where they might see that sort of thing in real life? With their own beloved father holding the bloody knife?

[loomer]

It was a tongue in cheek post, not a serious thing.

I don't see anything wrong with kids actually seeing it, having actually been taught to gut and clean chickens when I was seven.

[Zixinus]

I wonder whether this would backfire and MORE kids want to go in to get bloody chicken parts.

More seriously, on the topic of city people, this is something that most people are just not used to. The idea of loving a creature for what it is and how it behaves to humans as well as to eat it without an awkward thought is something alien to city-people. This is something that rural people are just used to.

Our goal has always been to lead the industry by bringing about improvements in animal welfare including rigorous, ongoing audits of our suppliers' facilities.

Really? To me, it looks like you want to convert the population to vegetarianism en-masse.

I agree. I'm just thinking of the woman quoted in the article who thinks it's offensive for PETA to show her kids pictures of bloody animals on the way into the McDonald's where they plan to eat the remains of those bloody animals.

What is hilarious, is that these are probably the same parents that are afraid of the morally bankrupting effect of boobies.

It seems that its flesh that's the overall problem. Or rather, that they use parental guidance as a cover for their own fears. Or anything that they wish to conceal from children. "Like boobs? You see yourself ogling at boobs? Oh no, I'm with little Timmy, er, erm... Hey miss! Get a shirt on!"
You suddenly disturbed to know where the meat actually comes from? To know that it requires the slaughter of lesser animals? Oh lord, we are not taking part in this.... this... outrage!

Or something like that anyway. The kid was probably wondering why his box is different and why the burger is funny.

[Adrian Laguna]

We had a talk by some guy who circuits colleges talking about how animals being eaten = holocaust. There was a video full of sad montages of animals being abused or having their throats slit and the like while in factories.

That sounds like such a perfect moment to have pull out some beef jerky and start snacking.

[General Zod]

We had a talk by some guy who circuits colleges talking about how animals being eaten = holocaust. There was a video full of sad montages of animals being abused or having their throats slit and the like while in factories.

That sounds like such a perfect moment to have pull out some beef jerky and start snacking.

Or even KFC?