PETA has come under fire after its recent U.K. advertising campaign featured a woman holding a dead cat on a silver platter. The pro-vegan billboard seemed to claim that eating a cat is no different from eating a fish.
The billboard’s holographic design changed depending on the viewer’s relative position. At one point, it would be a fish on a platter, and the next, it would be a cat on a platter. The New York Post reported that the billboard was featured last April outside a fish and chips shop in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.
The billboard read: “Sea things in a different light. Respect all life. Go vegan.”
The nation’s Advertising Standards Authority said that it “acknowledged that some viewers would find the ad unsettling or distasteful.” However, the agency noted that the ad promoted a “vegan diet” and was intended to “challenge societal norms regarding the moral significance of meat consumption.”
The ruling said: “We considered that the cat’s depiction was neither gruesome, nor shocking, and was unlikely to be considered particularly realistic by most viewers. On that basis, we considered that viewers, including children, were likely to regard the image as relatively mild. For…
