14 DAY TRIAL // Not long ago, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) unveiled a huge billboard in Jacksonville, Florida, which called fat women “whales” as it urged people to go vegetarian to lose the blubber. Upset about the ongoing “fat discrimination” that PETA resorts to on a regular basis to make its point, ManiK Magazine has just launched an anti-PETA ad.
The ad starts from one of the most famous campaigns from the activist group, the one that has celebrities sans clothes saying they’d rather go like this than wear fur. In the protest ad, a curvy black woman is seen decked all in furs but without any actual items of clothing per se, with a caption urging PETA to lose the sarcasm and apply “ethical treatment to all.”
“ManiK Magazine released their direct response today to PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) continuous abuse of publicly humiliating advertising campaigns that make the plus-size community the ‘punch line’ in efforts to promote vegetarianism as opposed to eating meat.” a press statement on the new campaign reads. The “Save the apology, lose the sarcasm” campaign also tells PETA that “Standing for something while falling for nothing takes great strength but you can be better and do better. Stop insulting others to promote your agenda. Go ethical for all!”
“Manik Magazine founder, Selina Weekes, was outraged at PETA’s billboard posted in August 2009 in Jacksonville, Florida, that suggests overweight people are synonymous with whales and should lose the ‘blubber.’ Rather than be a silent advocate for the oppressed, Manik Magazine is asking readers to get involved by posting their Anti-PETA ad as a default picture on their social networking sites for one week, starting November 16-21, to show solidarity for their interactive campaign to stand up against ostracism and ridicule from organizations that subliminally degrade fuller figures.” the same press release says.
ManiK Magazine is a lifestyle and fashion e-zine that targets the plus-size community, with the message that fashion – and, implicitly beauty – should not be accessible only to those of a smaller size. It also tackles topics such as wellbeing and health, in what it hopes to be a healthy approach to larger sizes and, ultimately, their acceptance and inclusion in mainstream.