It’s Food Again!

Jul 1, 2011 by Lauren

But not for the reasons you might think. 

Look, I know I’ve ranted and raved about this before, but I just saw something that really struck a nerve.  Maybe it’s my background in advertising, but one thing that pisses me off ALMOST as much as bad grammar is sneaky advertising.  I know better because I was taught what to look for…but the general public doesn’t. 

I just saw an ad.  First, it’s a picture of a small dog in a cage with the caption “When Will They Stop Beating Me?”  Then it’s another small dog in a cage with “Will I Ever Get Out of This Cage?”  I’m thinking “great…another Sarah McLaughlin heroin song in the background of half dead puppies and kittens and I’ll cry through the whole thing…better change the channel NOW.”  But I kept watching because the voice was different.  Turns out it’s not an ASPCA commercial like the crappy Sarah McLaughlin cry-fest.  It’s for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), wanting donations to “help stop animal cruelty.”  The entire commercial shows puppies and kittens, no other animals.  That is when I lost it. 

For those of you who don’t know, the HSUS is NOT affiliated with your local humane society.  You can see that right up front on their website, www.rescueanimalsnow.org.  You don’t even have to look past the middle of their home page to find out that part of their “MISSION” (their words) is to end factory farming.  As in, large animal farms.  How does raising cattle, hogs and chickens constitute animal “abuse” exactly?  Sounds like another dose of “food morality” doesn’t it? 

If you dig a little deeper (by this, I mean Google “humane society of the US”) and you will be taken to their REAL website  www.humanesociety.org.  You don’t have to go further than clicking on “issues” on this home page to be taken to their fully disclosed position on factory farming.  It says right at the top of the page that they want to “reduce the suffering of animals raised for meat, eggs and milk.”  Now that doesn’t sound so bad…except that what they mean is they want to END animal agriculture.  They pick a video of ONE bad farm and act like every farmer treats their livestock poorly.  Let’s get one thing straight people…if your business, your livelihood and, therefore, your LIFE depends on raising these animals to earn money so your family can eat…you are NOT going to abuse the animals.  Sick/dead animals don’t earn money.  Healthy, well-kept, properly fed animals make money.  Just think about that for a while.

I bring this up, not only because I live in a rural community where agriculture (animal and crop) is a major source of income, but because I don’t want to see one person suckered into thinking they are giving money to save innocent puppies and kittens, only to find out later their money is used in ridiculous “animal activist” activities.