COVER STORIES
October 27,1999 • the Seahawk
5
PETA “Got Beer” campaign backfires
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently drew fire from
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) over their recent anti-dairy "Got
Beer?” campaign. MADD contends that PETA’s campaign encouraged col
lege students to drink more alcoholic beverages.
rooms,” Lanier said.
The proposal is based on projected needs from
various departments on campus, which were ap
proved through the vice chancellor's office. Pro
posal recommendations were passed through a
fee review committee composed of students, fac
ulty and staff before being passed on to the chan
cellor. Chancellor James R. Leutze presented the
recommended increases to the BOX
Thirteen percent of the UNCW population is
comprised of out-of-state students who pay ap
proximately $17,426 per year to attend the uni
versity. $9,324 of this total is divided into tuitioti
and fees. The other eighty-seven percent of stu
dents are in state and pay approximately $9,832.
This number is broken down into $2,098 for tu
ition and fees yearly. All students will be affected
by this proposed increase
“I think its ridiculous to increase student fees.
The university has already increased the price of
parking and disciplinary tickets fit>m last year to
this year. I feel like the school is just looking for
reasons to get money from us and our parents,”
said freshman Wesley Wheeler.
Other students have expressed concern about
paying fees for activities they are not affiliated
with.
"I don't think its fair that people, like myself,
who don't participate in athletics, technology and
recreation should have to pay for an increase in
fees,” said Freshman Travis Blain.
by HEIDI BING
News Editor
PETA (People for the Ethical Treat
ment of Animals) was forced to cancel
its controversial “Got Beer?” campaign
last week after the promotion drew vo
cal criticism from many anti-drug
groups. The campaign, which advocated
the consumption of beer is healthier than
drinking dairy products, was publicly
challenged by Mothers Against Drunk
Driving (MADD) for promoting reck
less behavior.
“Its against the law for anyone under
the age of 21 to drink and binge drink
ing is one of the biggest problems on
college campuses,” said Cheryl Jones,
chairperson for MADD's state office. “I
think [PETA] was being very irrespon
sible to advocate drinking beer.”
Tuesday, March 14. PETA began
handing out bottles of chocolate soy
milk and bottle openers that read “Drink
responsibly, don't drink milk,” on col
lege campuses. Literature accompany
ing these promotional gifts outlines the
advantages of drinking beer instead of
milk. PETA representatives claim that
in addition to being “loaded” with fat
and cholesterol, dairy products are fre
quently contaminated with pesticides
and drugs. PETA further claims that,
contrary to information in dairy ads,
milk consumption is linked to diabetes,
heart disease, and certain cancers.
PETA’s criticism of milk stems from
the agency’s opposition to the treatment
of dairy cows who are continually im
pregnated to keep them lactating.
“Knowing how cows suffer in the
dairy industry is enough to make any
one lactose intolerant,” said PETA
President Ingrid Newkirk in a recent
press release.
The controversy has yielded mixed
responses from animal rights activists
on campus. Josh Price, who headed
UNCW’s SETA (Students for the Eth
nic Treatment of Animals) until his
graduation in December, was opposed
to the campaign because he does not
support the consumption of beer over
milk.
“I’m at odds with PETA on this...its
nice to see a campaign that bashes milk
but I would have chosen a different
route,” Price said. “They’re trying to
promote a healthy lifestyle and compas
sion but I can’t think of many things that
are compassionate about beer.”
Price said he agreed with the message
about milk PETA was presenting, but
felt the agency could have promoted an
alternative such as soymilk instead of
alcohol.
“The milk industry does so much
harm with the exploiting of animals
[but] I think beer does more harm to
people than milk does,” Price said.
“You don't see people drinking too
much milk and going home and beating
their wives.”
Freshman Frances Boyes, who now
heads SETA, said that while the cam
pus organization would not support the
campaign, she agreed with the philoso
phy behind it,
“This is the first big anti-milk cam
paign and it draws national attention to
the fact that its not just flesh that is
morally wrong to consume and bad for
your health, but also eggs and milk be
cause of the hormones that are used,”
Boyes said.
Boyes feels that the advertisement
was beneficial because it caused people
to question the facts they are presented
with about consumer products.
"People don't want to know they are
being lied to,” she said. “They want to
believe that just because something is
on a grocery shelf it must be safe and
that’s not true.”
PETA pulled its “Got Beer?” cam
paign from college campuses last Thurs
day, and according to Jones, offered a
formal apology. Jones said that
MADD's main problem with the cam
paign is that it'is geared toward college
students, many of who are underage.
“College students are one of the big
populations that have an interest in what
PETA does,” said Sam Shover, coordi
nator of UNCW’s CROSSROADS, a
substance abuse prevention and educa
tion center. “It’s irresponsible to pro
mote beer to college students, many of
whom are under 21. Basically they were
saying 'don’t drink milk, do something
Illegal instead'."
Shover said that on college campuses,
alcohol Is the drug most commonly as
sociated with cases of rape, sexual as
sault, and violent crime. She also noted
the danger alcohol addiction poses.
“There are few college students who
are alcohol dependent, however, if you
get into these patterns of heavy drink
ing now, they're more likely to continue
when you leave school," she said.
PETA’s new milk campaign will at
tempt to appeal to student’s compassion
for animals and will use ads depicting
milk cartons with photos of “Charlie the
veal calf,” a parody of missing
children’s ads. The group will attempt
to show the correlation between cruelty
in the dairy and veal industries.
The Physician’s Committee for Re
sponsible Medicine (PCRM), a group of
doctors concerned with animal rights,
filed a petition with the Federal Trade
Commission last April that challenges
the popular “milk mustache” ads pub
lished by American dairy farmers. The
PCRM feels the ads make false claims
about the extent to which milk prevents
osteoporosis and lowers high blood
pressure. Their report is available
online at http://www.pcrm.org
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