PETA ‘Claws’ Red Lobster With New Billboard

For Immediate Release:
May 6, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

“I’m ME, Not MEAT.” That’s the message from the lobster who appears in PETA’s new ad that just went up next to a Red Lobster restaurant in North Charleston—timed to coincide with the peak of lobster season—urging people to think twice before ordering sensitive shellfish for dinner on Mother’s Day or any day.

Photo courtesy of Molly Sherman

“Fish-free seafood is making waves with diners everywhere, so selling a vegan lobster roll to help the planet should be a no-brainer for Red Lobster and other chains,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s ad encourages people to help keep lobsters from being boiled alive by choosing vegan meals.”

Lobsters are intelligent individuals who explore their surroundings, can remember other individual lobsters, and use complex signals to establish social relationships. If left alone, they can live to be more than 100 years old. A PETA investigation into a crustacean slaughterhouse revealed that live lobsters were impaled, torn apart, and decapitated—even as their legs continued to move. Chefs typically place lobsters into pots of boiling water while they’re still conscious—a practice so cruel that it was banned in Switzerland.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—is ramping up its efforts for sea life following the release of the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, which examines the global fishing industry and explains how humans’ actions cause widespread environmental destruction.

PETA offers a free vegan starter kit (available here) full of recipes, tips, and more. Many faux-fish options—such as Gardein’s Golden Fishless Filets, Fish-Free Tuna from Good Catch, New Wave Foods’ new plant-based shrimp, and Vegan Crab Cakes from Sophie’s Kitchen—are available today. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The billboard is located in the parking lot adjacent to the Red Lobster restaurant at 2460 Mall Dr. in North Charleston.