Paul McCartney Joins PETA Campaign

The Successful Singer-Songwriter Supports Vegetarian Testimonial Ads

Mar 28, 2008 Jodie Martin

Celebrities, including former Beatles frontman Paul McCartney, will support a new PETA campaign for vegetarianism with video and print ads.

Sir Paul McCartney has teamed up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to star in a new vegetarian testimonial ad series to be supported and run by PETA affiliates worldwide. The campaign will feature celebrities explaining their reasons for going vegetarian in short videos and print advertisements.

PETA is an animal rights organization which campaigns for vegetarianism and against animal cruelty in all its forms. PETA said that the new print ad shows Paul McCartney’s fans why he respects all life and never eats meat. Paul McCartney, a founding band member of The Beatles and a successful solo artist since 1970, has supported PETA campaigns in the past. As a vegetarian for many years, he is a good choice for the launch of this new series.

Paul McCartney and Activism

In addition to his work with PETA, Paul McCartney and his late wife Linda McCartney became patrons of The Vegetarian Society in 1995. Linda McCartney also created a successful brand of vegetarian frozen foods in the UK. Following Linda McCartney’s death, Paul McCartney vowed to continue campaigning for vegetarianism and raise awareness about animal rights on Linda McCartney’s behalf. Paul and Linda McCartney have been quoted as saying:

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.”

Paul McCartney also actively supports No More Landmines, Make Poverty History and performing arts organizations in the UK. He has performed at benefit concerts and donated recordings to various charities, such as the US Campaign For Burma.

Other celebrities to appear in the PETA testimonial ad series include Alicia Silverstone, Forest Whitaker and Casey Affleck.

Why Vegetarian?

PETA encourages people to be vegetarian for animal rights, for health, for the environment and for world food production.

Most animals raised for food are the product of intensive factory farming where cruelty to animals is commonplace. The Save Babe campaign showed evidence of pregnant female pigs in small metal stalls with barely any room to move. Likewise, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia (RSPCA) reported that hens are being kept in tiny cages unable to move freely, not even to stretch or flap their wings.

The Oxford Vegetarian Study found evidence of the health benefits of vegetarianism. The study, reported in the British Medical Journal, found that of 5000 meat-eaters and 6000 non-meat eaters, vegetarians had 40 per cent less risk of cancer and 30 per cent less risk of heart disease than the meat-eaters and were 20 per cent less likely to die of any cause.

The benefits to the environment and for sufficient world food production are also significant. Entire forests are felled or burnt to provide land for cattle. In Pamela Teilser’s article “101 reasons why I’m a vegetarian”, the author found that in the United States, beef cattle return only one pound of meat for every 16 pound of grain and soybeans they are fed. In addition, it takes an average of 2,500 gallons of water to produce a single pound of meat.

Extensive research has made it clear that vegetarianism can help to fight animal cruelty, benefit the individual’s health, and better support the environment and food production overall.

Further areas of interest:

Vegetarian Cuisine on Suite101

Ingrid Newkirk's Profile: Co-Founder of PETA

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Paul McCartney Joins PETA Vegetarian Campaign