There are plenty of vegetarian foods that can get you into trouble with your weight.
Never known for its subtlety, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which apparently doesn't include female humans) has launched a new campaign in the Jacksonville, Fla., area.
"Save the Whales, Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian" says the billboard.
News4 in Jacksonville talked with PETA representative Ashley Byrne. "People are bombarded with ads for foods that are fattening," she said. "This shows that going vegetarian is the best way to beat the battle of the bulge."
Simply adapting a vegetarian diet will not magically peel off pounds. I know plenty of beefy vegans. And while a plant-based diet adds loads of fiber, vitamins and other good things to ones diet, there are plenty of vegetarians who think that french fries and a chocolate shake is a fine veggie meal.
The billboard is insulting, especially to women, who already are neurotic enough with Self magazine slimming down their booties on magazine covers and Audrina Patridge pretending to wolf down giant burgers for Carls Jr. and then shilling weight-loss sneakers for Reebok.
If someone wants to eat a vegetarian or vegan diet because of religious or social beliefs or because of health reasons, fine. But don't shame people into going veg by calling them whales.
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Comments
Excellent article. PETA: Way to attack an already weakened group of people. Sleep well and think twice about your next vegan/vegetarian meal. Or what it might be laced with.
I think if they're going to imply a deroguatory and rude reference to overweight people, they should at least use overweight men rather than women, in light of the percentage of women and girls with weight issues that can be traced directly to insecurity about weight, unhealthy relationships with food because of this insecurity, and unrealistic perceptions of their body images leading to anorexia and bulemia. Why contribute in this backhanded way to the other side of the weight problems in this country?
Oh yes, also, nobody in the US is overweight because of eating whales. This ad is literally nonsensical from that angle.
Not to be insensitive but since when is it okay to be obese? Obesity is a serious health issue and American society really should be concerned about it. Shock ads about obesity are no more discriminatory than shock ads about smoking, or drinking. The outrage at these ads ought to be focused at the staggering number of unhealthy Americans.
To Meat is Tasty - I understand that Obesity is a problem in the US, this is true, but this is not the way to make people loose weight, in reality this just makes me want to go eat a big fat cheeseburger in that chicks face that mentioned "the battle of the buldge" I agree with the article that vegetarians are not always skinny and it's not going to help loose weight if the person does not have the motivation to excercise and eat RIGHT - like they said french fries and a milkshake are not a balances diet!
We have three vegetarians in our family and they're all overweight. Obviously, there are thin and overweight vegetarians just as there are thin and overweight people who consume meat. Perhaps the people who came up with this ad only wanted to shock and get attention rather than promote the vegetarian lifestyle.
I eat my vegetables by eating vegetarians (mostly cattle).
Peta is certifiably insane. These are the people who wanted to make ice cream out of human breast milk. They are sick. This billboard proves it.
@meatistasty
Since when is it okay to tell somebody how to live their lives?
And besides why is being fat unacceptable when there are millions of other things that are worse issues? why is being fat the end all be all of unhealth?
The sad reality is, obesity is a problem and I can't imagine anyone waking up one day and choosing to become over weight, but here is my question, how many obese people like myself have donated money to peta through the years to have it used to insult my weight problem when it should be going to save and help the animals it claims to want to protect? Thanks peta, because of your ignorance, money that you have been receiving from people like me might find another cause for its use. Like, how to help morons see reality!!!
Not a bad idea- i bet if all obese Americans went vegetarian, most would lose weight; it would probably yield better results than any diet pill or fad diet.
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