Hey, Diners: ‘I’m ME, Not MEAT,’ Fish Proclaims on New PETA Billboard

Ad Near Seafood Restaurant Urges People to See All Animals as Individuals and Go Vegan

For Immediate Release:
April 3, 2019

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

As part of its campaign encouraging people to leave aquatic animals alone, PETA has placed a billboard near the TripAdvisor-ranked chain Eddie V’s Prime Seafood featuring a fish proclaiming, “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.” The ad calls on diners to choose vegan options, which even Eddie V’s offers with advance notice.

The billboard is located at 209 E. 12^th St., just off I-277 and approximately 1 mile from Eddie V’s restaurant.

“Just like humans, fish feel pain and fear, have unique personalities, and value their own lives,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s billboard is a reminder that we can spare these sensitive aquatic animals the agony of being suffocated, impaled, crushed, and cut open simply by choosing vegan meals.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is the human-supremacist viewpoint that animals are commodities. More fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined, yet they have no legal protection from abuse. Half of all fish consumed worldwide spend their lives in filthy enclosures on commercial fish farms and commonly suffer from parasite infections, diseases, debilitating injuries, and severe depression. Wild-caught fish slowly suffocate or are crushed to death when they’re dragged from the oceans in huge nets, and the throats and stomachs of those who survive are cut open on the decks of fishing boats.

In addition to sparing the lives of nearly 200 animals each every year, people who go vegan reduce their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and numerous other health concerns.

PETA offers a free vegan starter kit full of recipes, tips, and more and has compiled a roundup of America’s Top 10 Vegan Seafood Dishes. For more information, please visit PETA.org.