Now that two of the three biggest American quick-service restaurant chains (McDonald’s and Burger King) have had their time in the ring with the loonies from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the radical group is looking to complete the hat-trick by harassing Wendy’s. The campaign starts in earnest today, with a lunchtime demonstration at a Virginia restaurant. While most PETA “direct actions” amount to a dozen sign-waving lunatics, this one might be a bit larger: it happens to coincide with the 2001 Animal Rights conference, being held in another nearby Washington, DC suburb. Today’s conference schedule has a convenient lunch break at 1:00, giving PETA enough time to recruit a few hundred hard-core true believers to help scare the Bejeezus out of unsuspecting customers.
