Pork Expo Called Off, but Anti-Pork Ads Are On: ‘All Beings Bleed the Same’

New PETA Billboard Shows Bludgeoned Pig as Dog

For Immediate Release:
April 24, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

On the heels of the National Pork Producers Council’s cancellation of the World Pork Expo at the Iowa State Fairgrounds because of an African swine fever outbreak, PETA plans to place a new billboard near the fairgrounds that proclaims, “All Beings Bleed the Same.” The ad shows a blood-soaked meat-industry worker poised to bash a pig over the head—with an illustration of a terrified dog superimposed over the pig.

“When it comes to feeling pain and fear, a pig is no different from a dog, a cat, or a human being,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s billboard suggests that we must recognize that we’re all the same in all the ways that matter and that the kindest thing that we can do for pigs is keep them off our plates.”

PETA (whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”) notes that because of speciesism—a human-supremacist worldview that certain other animals are nothing more than commodities—pigs are routinely abused in horrific ways that would be illegal if the victims were dogs or cats. In today’s pork industry, mother pigs are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any pain relief. At the slaughterhouse, they’re hung upside down, often while still conscious, and bled to death.

Swine fever isn’t the only risk associated with the pork industry. The World Health Organization says that eating processed meat can cause cancer, and a recent study showed that consuming just one piece of bacon a day increases one’s chances of developing colorectal cancer by 19%. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegans have lower rates of obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease than meat-eaters do.

The ad campaign was created by PETA Germany and advertising agency DDB Prague, using images from animal rights photographer Tras los Muros.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.