WEINERMOBILE WINS;
PETA PUBLICITY BOOMERANGS

We make no judgment about vegetarians or animal rights, but we do like to keep abreast of interesting food news...

The Washington Post reported that PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, launched a protest against the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile in a Maryland supermarket parking lot and "ended up looking like road kill."

Everyone loves the Weinermobile (designed by a guy who also designed Harley Davidson motorcycles). That's part of the problem say the activists—the Weinermobile is fun, and eating animals should not be fun, or done. But it's true: the Weinermobile has strong emotional attachment to both parents and kids.

Here's what happened: Oscar Mayer (with Weinermobile) sets up one of their "talent searches" at the parking lot to seek out kids for their ads. The kids and parents arrive and one by one, the kids are to stand at a mike and sing their audition. But the first kid barely utters a note when bullhorns blast out "Cruelty we won't tolerate! Get the slaughter off the plate!" Four protesters, one dressed in a pig suit, approach with a sign reading "Did your food have a face?" (One protester, it was noted, wore leather shoes.)

The chant continues: "Oscar Mayer is to Blame! Exploiting Children is a shame!" The kids freeze. Their faces are stricken. The mothers are livid. "What does 'slaughter' mean?" asks little Emily. "Why do adults get to be so loud?" says another. The TV news cameras zoomed in on innocent, tearful faces. It was a publicity stunt that gathered attention, but one that backfired on PETA.

Past PETA publicity stunts include an attempt to take out ads invoking cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Daumer, and placing a turkey, whose breast was too big for him to stand up, in a wheelchair outside the White House on Thanksgiving.

One wonders: In the Weinermobile incident, who was it that was really exploiting the children? You make the call. Email us your comments—tell us what you think. Send email to editor@foodwine.com and mark it WEINER in the subject line.

... And now, some beans to go with your franks:
THIN OR THICK CRUST, PLEASE?

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