First they did their “Save the Whales” campaign:

In a press release their Vice President, Tracy Reiman, said “Trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach…”

She made a funny. Isn’t she clever?

Then their President, Ingrid Newkirk, actually put the following two phrases in the same blog talking about the billboard campaign (which they eventually took down due to public outcry)

“…our children, many of whom are now so fat themselves that “teeter-totter” has come to describe their wobbly gait…:

“PETA’s billboard was fueled by a healthy respect… for our own species’s potential to be kind and healthy.”

Apparently Ingrid thinks that living up to her potential to be kind includes shaming children.

Today I saw their latest ad:

Here I was wrestling with questions about whether or not the body scans are a human rights violation, and if they can cause cancer. Thanks to PETA I now know that what I really should be concerned about is whether or not I am stereotypically hot enough in my body scan. I guess it’s the pat down for me. In other news, apparently going vegan gives you giant boobs.

Happily the ad was turned down by major airports and Southwest Airlines.

Look, I like animals a lot but I don’t think that in order to be for animals you need to also be for body shaming. In fact, it seems almost diametrically opposed. Why would you want to protect animals but treat people like crap? Although she has said it, I do not believe that Ingrid thinks this kind of thing is just the “tough love” us fatties need. I think that she said – Oh look, the diet industry makes $60 Billion a year using shame, guilt and fear, how can we get some of that action?”

There are plenty of local and National groups that manage to have compassion for animals and people at the same time. It’s not that hard. If PETA can’t get that done then I don’t know what they hell is wrong with them but I hope they go the way of the Dodo.