The same animal rights group whose anti-meat advertising was denounced in August as “alarmist” and “unsubstantiated” by Great Britain’s Advertising Standards Agency could soon bring these same messages to your local high school.
Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (VIVA) is circulating an e-mail appeal asking activists for $100 to place print advertisements in high school newspapers. “We would like to run our first ads,” says the e-mail, “in Lowell High School (San Francisco), Mt. Carmel High School (San Diego), Gainesville High School (Georgia), LBJ High (Austin, TX), and Hillcrest High (Midvale, UT).”
VIVA was slammed by UK officials for claiming (falsely) that meat eaters were more likely to die of heart disease or strokes, and that sausages were “perfectly designed to help them on their way.”
If you’re curious about what sort of people would needlessly scare teenagers about their dietary choices, read our Daily Headline from July 31, 2002. VIVA has clear and unmistakable ties to violent extremists.
