If there’s one thing that PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals) is good at, it’s getting attention. While other organisations tend to try and stay pretty straight edge and safe in regards to their campaigns and reputation, PETA clearly just don’t give a f*ck – And you know, I kind of like them for that.

PETA clearly knows that it’s not doing itself any harm by being controversial. Although it uses everything from porn to the serial killers to make a point, it remains the most successful radical organisation in the American mainstream, with over 800,000 members and millions of dollars donated each and every year. Quite literally hundreds of celebrities have featured in their campaigns over the last few decades.

“PETA’s campaigns never made me reach any kind of crisis about eating meat”

The real question about PETA’s campaigns however, is not whether they should be allowed to offend us, it’s whether the controversy they create is a successful tool. I’ve been a vegetarian for the past two years, but I saw my first PETA campaign many years before that. As an unsure meat eater, PETA’s campaigns never made me reach any kind of crisis about eating meat, they never offered any kind of solution to the guilty feelings I used to have about the fact I did. They only made me feel more guilty and made me want to look away, I was counted as one of the dark side – the meat eater.

PETA offers a sensationalised way to look at what are already pretty horrific facts about meat production and animal cruelty. Controversy is a very effective way to make people wake up and see a reality they may be unaware of, but in 2017 there aren’t many people left that are still unaware of slaughterhouses and battery farming. Going forward in a time where everyone has seen the truth behind meat aisle and is now left with the decision to ignore it or make a change, perhaps PETA should consider replacing their angry fist with an outstretched hand.

What do you think? Watch some of their past campaigns and let us know.