Alissa White-Gluz Becomes Trapped Mermaid in Ad to Save Fish During Lent

Go Vegan for the Oceans, Fish, and Yourself, Pleads Singer

For Immediate Release:
February 22, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Ensnared in a fishing net and swishing a mermaid tail that matches her signature sea-blue hair, Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz is putting herself in the place of aquatic animals in a new PETA ad launching in time for Lent. It’s a reminder that fish are not swimming potatoes—they’re sensitive individuals who deserve to be left off people’s plates all 40 days of Lent and beyond.

“The first thing that people are ready to … disregard as living animals are sea creatures,” says White-Gluz in an exclusive video interview. “We’re … invading a completely different environment and just destroying all the inhabitants in it … That’s something less talked about, but it should really be talked about, especially when you look at the statistics that say that our oceans will be dead 20 years from now.”

Fish feel pain, share knowledge, have long memories, and have cultural traditions. Some woo potential partners by creating intricate works of art in the sand on the ocean floor, yet more fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. They’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open and gutted—often while they’re completely conscious. In addition, 38 million tons of other aquatic animals are unintentionally caught each year to satisfy consumers’ demand for “seafood.”

But White-Gluz points out that hope isn’t lost if everyone goes vegan, as she did over 20 years ago. Each person who follows her lead can expect to save nearly 200 animals each year and, as she notes, help tackle the cruel egg and dairy industries. “By making that simple choice, we actually could reverse this damage.”

White-Gluz joins a long list of musicians—including her boyfriend Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Cristina Scabbia, Dave Navarro, Ozzy Osbourne, Davey Havok, and Iggy Pop—who have teamed up with PETA to promote kindness to animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.