‘I’m Me, Not Meat’ Billboard Cow Targets Nearby McDonald’s and Arby’s

PETA’s Digital Ad Aimed at Outlier Chains That Fail to Provide Vegan Menu Items

For Immediate Release:
July 30, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

PETA has placed a giant digital billboard near McDonald’s and Arby’s locations in town showing a cow’s face next to the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.” The reason? The two chains are lagging behind their competitors in offering vegan options, like Beyond Meat tacos (Del Taco), tofu Sofritas (Chipotle), a veggie sausage sandwich (Dunkin’), and vegan burgers (Denny’s, White Castle, and Carl’s Jr.) as well as vegan cheese and “meaty” pizzas at more than 40 chains nationwide.

“PETA’s billboard takes McDonald’s and Arby’s to task for still serving sad old meat meals instead of catering to the rising demand for vegan options as other fast-food chains now do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “As more people go vegan for animals, the environment, and health reasons, PETA urges restaurants to embrace this market or risk losing customers.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that in today’s meat industry, chickens’ and turkeys’ throats are slit while they’re still conscious, fish are cut open on the decks of fishing boats, piglets’ tails and testicles are cut off without painkillers, and cows are shot in the head, hung upside down, and bled to death. Cows used in the dairy industry are repeatedly artificially inseminated, and their beloved calves are taken away soon after birth so that humans can drink the milk that was meant for them.

The billboard is located at 4427 Talmadge Rd. (just south of the intersection with Monroe Street), directly across from McDonald’s and next to Arby’s.

PETA opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist view that fosters violence toward other animals. For more information, please visit PETA.org.