‘ThanksVegan’ Ad Pushes People to ‘Pardon Tom’ in Springfield
For Immediate Release:
November 16, 2020
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Vegan foods are selling like hotcakes, so Thanksgiving is morphing into “ThanksVegan”—and PETA is encouraging Missourians to hop on the trend with a new billboard that just went up along Highway 90 as part of a nationwide push for everyone to give turkeys a break and celebrate with a vegan feast this holiday.
PETA’s billboard hopes to inspire a new, 21st century way of viewing turkeys—as sensitive living beings, not dining table centerpieces.
“When it comes to having feelings, loving their families, and valuing their lives, turkeys are individuals, every bit as much as humans are,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA offers tips, recipes, and lots more so that everyone can enjoy a delicious ThanksVegan meal, including the turkeys.”
Turkeys are caring parents and spirited explorers who can live up to 10 years, but those raised for food are normally slaughtered when they’re between 12 and 26 weeks old—and more than 46 million are killed each year for Thanksgiving alone. The young birds are hung by their feet from metal shackles and dragged through an electrified bath, and they’re often still conscious when their throats are slit and they’re dumped into scalding-hot defeathering tanks.
As part of its #ThanksVegan campaign, PETA is also placing more pro-turkey billboards across the country; running its “Grace” ad, in which a little girl makes some pointed comments while saying grace at the dinner table; protesting outside turkey slaughterhouses; and partnering with restaurants and grocery stores to promote their ready-to-roast vegan turkeys and other animal-free options.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a ThanksVegan recipe guide. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
The billboard is located on Chestnut Expressway between N. Miller N. Lulwood avenues.
