Samantha Barks ‘Drowns’ in New peta2 Ad

Actor Submerges Herself in Tank of Water to Encourage People to Relate to Fish

For Immediate Release:
March 10, 2015

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Proving that she would do anything to help animals, Les Misérables star Samantha Barks didn’t hesitate before stripping down and plunging into a tank of cold water to pose for a new ad with peta2, PETA’s youth division, that challenges, “Imagine Not Being Able to Breathe,” and explains that fish suffocate when pulled out of the water. The ad, available here, goes on to implore, “Please Try to Relate, and Keep Fish off Your Plate.”

“All animals have the same capacity to suffer, and fish are no exception,” says PETA Director of Youth Outreach and Campaigns Marta Holmberg. “As the public learns more about the capabilities, social bonds, and intelligence of fish and other aquatic animals, most caring people will feel more inclined to leave them off their plates.”

Numerous studies have shown that fish feel pain, as all animals do, and can learn tasks, have long-term memories, use tools, and show affection. When fish are hooked, impaled, or netted and pulled up from the ocean depths, they undergo the excruciating pain of decompression, an intense pressure that often ruptures their swim bladders and damages other internal organs. Each person who goes vegetarian or vegan spares more than 100 fish and other animals immense suffering every year.

Barks joins a growing list of celebrities—including Alicia Silverstone, Zendaya, Joaquin Phoenix, Rocsi Diaz, and Keltie Knight—who have teamed up with peta2, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat.”

For more information, please visit peta2.org.