PETA and ACLU give voice to the voiceless
June 22, 1998
BIRMINGHAM -- This summer, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is organizing demonstrations in all 72 cities where Oscar Mayer's wienermobile is planning stops. But organizers hit a snag in Birmingham when the city attempted to deny them their First Amendment right to peacefully protest.
Now, courtesy of court action taken by the ACLU of Alabama, PETA's Thursday demonstration will take place.
"It makes me even more proud to be a card-carrying member of the ACLU," says PETA's vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce G. Friedrich.
"We feel a need to protest because the wienermobile makes a mockery of animal suffering. Unless you would like to suffer through the living hell of factory farms and the violence and bloodshed of the slaughterhouse, you wouldn't want to be an Oscar Mayer wiener," says Friedrich. "The wienermobile is the meat industry's Joe Camel, enticing children to eat foods which will haunt them later in life. The wienermobile teaches kids that eating meat is healthy and fun. In fact, meat stinks -- for animals, the environment, and for these kids' health."
All of this is part of PETA's larger campaign against Oscar Mayer's wienermobile. Last year, PETA sponsored 68 demonstrations in more than 50 cities, making news stories across the country, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and International Herald Tribune and on CNN Headline News and the CBS Evening News.
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