Another Stir at Starbucks: First the Cups, Then the Cookies—Now the Cow’s Milk

PETA Launches ‘Decalf Your Coffee’ Ad Campaign, Billboard Asking Coffee Lovers to Pick Soy or Coconut Milk and Leave Mother’s Milk for the Calves

For Immediate Release:
December 15, 2015

Contact:
Catie Cryar 202-483-7382

Starbucks has been the epicenter of controversy this hbillboard, oliday season—most recently for a cookie that appears to depict a polar bear bleeding from the neck and previously for its minimalist red cups. But PETA says that it’s what’s inside the controversial cups that should concern compassionate customers—so the group is negotiating with advertisers in Starbucks’ hometown of Seattle to display a billboard that shows a calf peeking out from behind a coffee cup next to the words “Please Decalf Your Coffee! Try Soy or Coconut Milk Today. Only Calves Should Drink Cow’s Milk.”

“A lot of people don’t know that a cow has to deliver a calf in order to produce milk and are shocked to learn that the calves are taken from their mothers so that the milk that was meant for them can be sold in coffee shops,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s billboard challenges everyone to start lightening their coffee with the delicious vegan milks available at Starbucks and grocery stores everywhere.”

PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” points out that many male calves are shoved into tiny veal crates, while most female calves are destined for the same fate as their mothers: repeated artificial insemination until their bodies give out and they’re slaughtered at 4 or 5 years of age—far short of their natural 25-year life expectancy.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.