Five Times PETA Tried to Guilt Americans Out of Eating Turkey on Thanksgiving

Peta Thanksgiving Tweet
Twitter@peta
Hannah Knudsen

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has come out in full force, as it does every year, to attempt to dissuade Americans from eating turkey on Thanksgiving.

Every year, the activist group uses a variety of methods on social media to guilt meat-eating Americans out of enjoying a succulent and juicy Thanksgiving staple, urging them to opt for an alternative vegan option instead. This year was no exception.

Here are PETA’s top five attempts to discourage Americans from indulging in a deep-fried or oven-roasted Butterball.

1. PETA likened turkeys to American citizens by posting a picture of the bird behind an American flag and calling the creatures “Winged Americans.”

The organization wrote, “Every American deserves the freedom to live without being abused and killed.”

“Respect your fellow Americans by celebrating a #VeganThanksgiving,” PETA added. It remains unclear if the organization believes the unalienable rights acknowledged in the U.S. Constitution should extend to our feathered friends:

2. PETA revived a decade-old ad titled “Grace,” featuring a family sitting around a table and a girl delivering a colorful pre-meal prayer.

“Thank you for the turkey we are about to eat and for the turkey farms where they pack them into dark, tiny little sheds, for their whole lives,” the girl says.

“Thank you for when they burn their feathers off while they are still alive, and for when turkey gets kicked around like a football and killed by people who think it’s fun to stomp on their little turkey heads,” she continues:

“Thanksgiving can be the scariest time of year if you’re a turkey,” PETA wrote in the post accompanying the ad. “More than 45 million of these fascinating birds are killed to disgrace Thanksgiving tables each year.”

3. PETA argued that turkeys were not present at the first thanksgiving. Therefore, they should not be a staple in the modern-day celebration.

The article added that Americans should not consume turkeys because “eating dead birds is wreaking havoc on the planet” and noted that “your turkey could have been the victim of sexual assault”:

4. PETA attempted to join in on the popular hashtag #WaysToRuinThanksgiving by posting a picture of a grown man lying next to two replicas of turkeys on a sidewalk.

A sign in the background reads, “We are all the same”:

5. PETA tweeted a video of a turkey’s origins, showing its journey to your table:

“Turkeys are individuals. Please leave them off your plate this Thanksgiving,” PETA wrote as a last-ditch effort to dissuade Americans from eating the birds on the big day:

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