Cheeky Anti-Fishing Ads Now Up in Public Restrooms All Over Town

PETA Ads Ask Anglers, ‘Are You Overcompensating for Something?’

For Immediate Release:
July 8, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

As part of its campaign encouraging people to leave aquatic animals alone—and because Traverse City is a top fishing destination—PETA has placed 40 ads in 20 public restrooms across the area showing a male angler wielding a suggestively placed floppy fishing rod alongside the words “Are You Overcompensating for Something? Fishing Won’t Help.”

“Fish are sensitive individuals who feel pain and fear just as all animals do, yet they’re hooked by their mouths, yanked from their aquatic homes, and left to suffocate slowly by cruel people with something to prove,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s ad blitz reminds men that they can easily grow a big heart simply by choosing not to fish.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—notes that fish have unique personalities, can recognize human faces, and can retain memories and think ahead. Numerous studies have confirmed that they can feel pain. Their sensitive mouths are full of nerve endings, and those who are released after they’ve been hooked often die from their injuries and the loss of their protective outer coating, which can come off when people handle them. In addition, discarded fishing tackle injures birds, turtles, and other wildlife.

The ads are located at Duncan L. Clinch Marina, Clinch Park, Bryant Park, East Bay Park, Holiday Park Campground, Munson Marathon, Bayview Inn Bar & Grill, Brady’s Bar, Dillinger’s Pub, Bootleggers, The Sail Inn Bar & Grill, Big Boy, Mancino’s Pizza & Grinders of Traverse City (Chum’s Corner), Sparky’s Diner, Scalawags Whitefish and Chips, That’sa Pizza, and Shell stations in Elk Rapids, Cherry Knoll, Grawn, and Garfield Township.

PETA opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.