Will New Video Persuade People to Leave Pigs Off Their Plates?

PETA Spot of a Girl and Her Beloved Pig Pal Takes a Dark Turn in Order to Make Urgent Plea for Vegan Meals Ahead of the Holidays

For Immediate Release:
December 3, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

“Love all animals!” That’s the message of a new PETA video, available here, that shows a little girl sleeping, walking, and playing with her beloved pig companion, just as she would with a dog, only to come home from school one day to find the pig missing—and pork chops on her plate. The ad was created using computer-generated imagery by Mackevision.

“This video is asking families to consider who that holiday ham on their table really was—and that’s a playful, loyal, wonderful pig who wanted to live but died violently,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging people to realize that if they wouldn’t eat their dog, they shouldn’t eat a pig, and asking them to celebrate the holiday season with hearty vegan roasts.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that every person who goes vegan prevents nearly 200 pigs, cows, chickens, fish, and other animals every year from enduring miserable lives and terrifying, bloody deaths in today’s meat, egg, and dairy industries. Pigs are intelligent, social, curious animals, but mother pigs used for food are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any painkillers. At the slaughterhouse, they’re hung upside down, often while still conscious, and bled to death.

PETA offers a free vegan starter kit on its website as well as a holiday guide to satisfying and delicious vegan ham meals. For more information, please visit PETA.org.