The animal rights charity Peta have had their latest advertising campaign pulled after complaints were received that it mislead consumers about the link between eating meat and swine flu.
The advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Agency launched an investigation after the poster campaign was drawn to their attention. It contained large block text saying ‘meat kills’, with smaller text in the background listing a variety of superbugs such as mad cow disease, E-Coli and swine flu, which was more prominent than the other diseases. Beneath this was the tag line, ‘Go Vegetarian. Peta’.
Peta said that the poster was intended to highlight the role livestock played in the incubation, development and spread of infectious diseases rather than imply that meat-eating caused swine flu. They added that it highlighted how reducing meat consumption was one of the best ways to prevent diseases like swine flu developing and spreading.
The ASA found that though the intention was to highlight livestock and meat production, the message that came across was ‘at best, ambiguous.’ In a statement they said that readers might infer from the poster that eating meat caused swine flu, making the poster likely to mislead.
They concluded therefore that it had the potential to cause ‘undue fear and distress’ to some people and ordered the posters be taken down.