PETA does get a bad rap, they are pretty darn looney sometimes. (Remember the breastmilk ice cream idea?) But you have to admit that they do get attention for animal rights. Can you name any other animal rights group? (Before anyone says WWF just FIY, they are not an animals rights group rather an environmental conversation group.)
Currently those activist over at People for Ethical Treatment of Animals are stirring up more trouble, targeting the worldly fast food big box company, McDonalds. But did they go too far? Their Unhappy Meal hand out has some parents angry. Watch the news clip here.
From the PETA's McCruelty website about the Unhappy Meals:
McDonald's markets its food to children by packaging it in brightly colored boxes with enclosed toys, but most kids would probably lose their lunch if they knew about the animal suffering that goes into the company's Happy Meals." That's why PETA created Unhappy Meals to make sure that families know that the lives of the chickens who were killed for those McNuggets were anything but happy.
PETA's spoof of a McDonald's chicken sandwich box features the image of a knife-wielding "Ronald McDonald," along with pictures of birds who have been scalded alive and information about controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), the less cruel method of slaughter that PETA is asking McDonald's to adopt.
(See? They aren't even asking McDonald's to stop the killing, just do it in a more humane way. Not something I expected anyway.)
The mother does have a good point. It could have been done with a little more tact. Handing out this kind of information to young children, along with pictures of a knife wielding Ronald and bloody rubber chickens, is a bit extreme and could cause a lot of stress especially with the more sensitive children. But I still think that it's a great idea as a whole. It definitely got attention which is the point. It is all about raising awareness and children don't have the same food disconnect as adults do.
But sadly the mother's argument lost its touch when she said that she doesn't think that children should not know where their meal is coming from. ... Um what? Why not? It just didn't make sense, but there wasn't enough time to cover it.
The best part? The 11 year old boy now refuses to eat chicken. Mission accomplished.
What do you think about this?
Well, it does get the message across very effectively. I'm fine with the design of the Unhappy Meal. I can't really imagine a kid getting stressed out by it, but I guess it happens.
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