PETA is yet again finding itself in some very hot water after what seems to be a PR stunt gone terribly wrong. Resulting in another blow to the organization’s terrible credibility, because they have been down this road plenty of times before.
According to Mashable, “The animal rights group has produced a disturbing new video that depicts a cat suffering at the hands of its owner. it’s difficult to watch. It’s also completely fake.”
The video shows a gray cat named Rufus, sitting on a bar stool in a kitchen. His owner, who is supposedly recording the video, is telling him to jump to the adjacent stool, and when he doesn’t, his owner slaps him in the head multiple times before the cat runs away in fear.
PETA was intending to release this disturbing video on Youtube last week to raise awareness for animal cruelty. However, when a PR company working for PETA asked Mashable to help it go viral, they left out one thing- the cat wasn’t real. It is a product of skilled CGI, a computer generated image, meant to clearly deceive its viewers.
Here is a screenshot of Rufus, the way too realistic looking cat in the video:
Image Credit: Mashable via PETA
Press Kitchen, the PR agency working for PETA, approached Mashable via email late last week pitching the video. Mashable initially ignored the completely out-of-left-field email. Press Kitchen did not explain the videos origins, they wanted Mashable to play along with PETA and pretend as if they were unaware of who made the video or why.
Press Kitchen reached out not once, but twice to Mashable to get this video made public and popular. Given the nature of the effort, the misinformation about its origins as well as the disgusting nature of the video, Mashable made the easy decision to make the fake campaign public instead of playing along. When they contacted PETA for a comment on the video, they did not receive a response in time for publication.
The piece, published by Mashable on Tuesday night, says the group was “trying to enlist complicit media organizations to knowingly publish the fake video in an effort to make the lie go viral.”
Following the publication of this story, PETA released a statement on their website that read, “The PR company approached Mashable and shared their idea. Mashable didn’t like it.”
Mashable made it clear that it wasn’t that they just “didn’t like” the idea. It was so much more than that.
“We should note here that the issue isn’t that “Mashable didn’t like it” so much as that we here at Mashable don’t take kindly to being approached for partnership on a shady, ethically ass-backwards marketing campaign. But also, yeah, sure: We’re not fans of animal abuse videos, fake or otherwise,” reports Mashable.
PETA continued their practice of believing that they’re infallible and everyone else is wrong. The radical animal rights group’s president and co-founder, Ingrid Newark confirmed that some PETA staffers were aware of the ad agency’s plan, and said the organization realized the idea was “ill-conceived” after Mashable had expressed concerns about the pitch. However, she denied that PETA’s intent was to trick people.
It’s important to note that Newark’s been caught in plenty of lies throughout her long career as a radical animal rights activist.
PETA is notorious for spreading false information to raise awareness for just about anything. Creating bogus videos, spreading misinformation, and inciting fake-outrage is their M.O.
Like that time they lied and claimed that the finance company, MasterCard, would no longer work with zoos and aquariums.
Or how about that time they produced more radical propaganda in a documentary called “Vancouver Aquarium Uncovered” that was full of lies?
Remember that time PETA put out a press release bragging that the Florida Department of Education had discontinued its relationship with SeaWorld Orlando? Which was also a lie… We do
They have also been in and out of the courtroom a lot, successfully filing lawsuits but not successfully winning them.
What they do is wrong, it is so so wrong. It is immoral. The only way they can survive anymore is doing over the top, crossing the line publicity stunts in a desperate hope to gain more followers.