Animal-rights group PETA doesn’t shy from controversy — in fact, quite the opposite. So I suppose it’s no surprise that when Baltimore City Councilmember William “Pete” Welch floated the idea of including ads on city fire trucks as a way to raise funds for trucks that would otherwise have to disband, PETA saw it as an opportunity. While the Baltimore Brew imagined what our city would look like with a Food4Less or Big Boyz Bail Bonds fire truck, PETA’s proposed ad continues the organization’s long history of using hot women to promote animal activism.
Even if this is a ploy to garner publicity (which it obviously is), you think they could’ve come up with a more tasteful slogan than “VEGANS ARE HOT!,” considering the ad would run on the side of a fire truck. “Hot” is usually not a positive word in that context. Extending the poor-taste pun to the max in her letter to Welch, PETA manager Lindsay Rajt writes that “PETA is happy to help Baltimore’s fire departments from going up in smoke… [This ad], featuring a sexy woman showing off her vegan physique, will drive Baltimore residents to PETA’s heart-healthy vegan recipes that will keep them firing on all cylinders… By going vegan, Baltimore residents can save animals, protect their health, and help themselves become ‘hot stuff’!” She also helpfully points out that vegans are 18 percent thinner than meat-eaters.
Makes a Big Boyz Bail Bonds fire truck (repainted in hot pink and yellow?) sound kind of appealing.
