PETA "Great Cheese from Happy Cows" Suit Hits the Grater
ALL OF 'EMJust when you thought that PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) could get no more ridiculous, they took a turn to the udderly inane. In a move at the end of 2002, the group entered a lawsuit against the California Milk Producers Advisory Board for false advertising.
The lawsuit followed the enormous success of the CMPA's promotion of California cheese, in ads showing blissful cows grazing in green pastures with the slogan, "Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California."
The claim? PETA says the ads falsely portray the lives of California cows, that cows do not live blissful lives, but are instead kept in appalling conditions, repeated milked and impregnated, and finally, when they can no longer "produce to quota," brutally slaughtered.
Happily, the Califonia Supreme Court has rejected the lawsuit.
AP, San Francisco—The California Supreme Court is putting to pasture a lawsuit brought by an animal rights group alleging the California Milk Producers Advisory Board is falsely advertising that California's cows are happy... court in January ruled that Milk Producers Advisory Board, funded by farmers, is immune from being sued under false-advertising laws, just like other state agencies.I love those commercials, too. My favorite is the one where an earthquake begins and the cows moo with delight, "Here's the vibrator again!" Another one makes my spouse laugh; a herd of (supposedly Wisconsin, though the accent is Minnesotan) cows are huddled together in a blizzard, and one of them whispers, "Sadie's making a break for it." You then see the runaway cow barely a quarter mile away, pushing into the teeth of the storm, as one of the herd explains it's been several days.
It seems to me, from my California-sunshine perspective, that living in a concrete barn in the upper MidWest in winter is cruel and unusual treatment compared to dwelling in sun-strewn pastures with an occasional visit from the bull. And from my dairy-land youth, I know that cows are definitely not happy unless they are milked repeatedly, often on a schedule inconvenient to the farmer.
Speaking of bulls, I always wondered why they didn't do one like the joke about the old bull and the young bull, standing on top of a hill surveying the herd of cows. "Let's run down there and nail one of 'em," says the young bull eagerly.
"Nah," replies his elder in a ruminating tone. "Let's mosey down there and nail all of 'em."
The defunct case is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals v. California Milk Producers Advisory Board, S131823.
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posted by DrPat at 4/21/2005 06:16:00 PM
3 Comments:
It's a fact that few California cows will ever see a pasture, much less a sun-strewn one. California is the industrial puppy mill of the dairy industry to the private AKC-certified family breeder of Wisconsin.
Sad, for the animals, yet true. The campaign is an embarassing yet effective lie. They even admit it's a lie (they said something like 'our customers can tell the difference between fantasy and reality')
Winter in WI apparently isn't perfect, but at least they do get out to a real pasture for a large part of the year.
All right, let's take a serious look at the commercials. Each commercial has less than a handfull of cows on an entire pasture. They must think that the average human being viewing the commercials are entirely gullible. These are the "real" Californian cows: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?ex=1359090000&en=a9d80925d175d1b2&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Is this a joke?? Yeah, that's exactly how most cows live. Happily hangin' out in the fields thinking of what to eat and who to flirt with. Give us a break.
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