In Poor Economy, PETA Buying Stock in Meat-Heavy Restaurants
Taking advantage of the shriveling stock market, PETA has been purchasing more and more shares in meaty companies, including popular chain establishments like Domino’s Pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, and Sonics. The surge in stock purchases comes shortly after PETA’s call for donations not only to them, but to other animal rights organizations also hurting in the economy.
PETA has bought stock in meat companies for years. They already had a large holding in Tyson Foods, one of the most notorious animal abusers in the meat industry, and recently purchased even more. But what will PETA do once they own enough shares in these companies to be a deciding voice?
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Would we find vegan cheese options at Domino’s? Would they eliminate meat all together from the menus and perhaps risk running the chains out of business? Or perhaps they’d make the age-old rumors come true by changing pepperoni and sausage to mostly soy or wheat protein?
PETA first began engaging in shareholder activism in 2003 when they purchased 240 shares in Tyson Foods, enough to allow the organization to speak at shareholder meetings. The meat industry has watched with a cautious eye ever since.
Factory farming is among the most environmentally disastrous industries, topping even the transportation industry in its impact on global warming. While PETA pushes for animal rights, their actions also promote a healthier environment.
“Our campaign has already paid dividends for animals, so we’re forging ahead with it at any ‘price,’” said PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. “During hard economic times, the most vulnerable members of society—including animals—still need protection from exploitation and abuse.”
Photo Credit: VirtualErn on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
i find this extremely interesting. what a great way to get their voices heard. i would LOVE it if dominos and places of the like started offering vegan cheese. go peta!
Its would be nice if it was an option, but with their extreme agenda, they will most likely only offer vegan food. It would be like the Catholic Church taking a 51% stake in Playboy. Do you really think they would compromise at all? Or the Christian Right having their own Congress and President, what a terrible idea.
I’m a vegetarian, a long and proud one at that, and I think the PETA lot is a bunch of prats. People who are scared into being vegetarians (which is what PETA likes to use; scare tactics) shouldn’t be vegetarians at all, for they didn’t make the decision themselves… they had a company that kills 2/3 of the animals it save decide for them.
Hilarious. PETA turns Domino’s vegan. Domino’s pizza prices go through the roof, because factory farming (and all that) saves money. Domino’s tanks because people don’t want to pay $20 for a tofu-feta pizza. PETA out tons of money. New pizza company takes the place of Domino’s, because you can’t stop supply and demand. If people wanted vegan food now, they just wouldn’t eat at Domino’s. You need to take away Domino’s market by offering tasty, cheap vegan pizza that people prefer. So far, the country doesn’t want that, so it’s not going to fly. Someone needs to explain capitalism to these people…all they seem to understand is activism and protest, with little regard to any realistic strategy.
Soy protein may be good for cows but it’s bad for human’s unless it’s been fermented. Maybe a tempeh topping might work but most soy based fake meats and soy based fake cheeses are not nutritious.
Vegans who replace animal products in there diet with with highly processed gmo soy are rolling the dice with there health.
I would rather see PETA get on the pastured livestock bandwagon than the gmo, highly processed frankenfood option of fake meat and cheese.
So PETA supports companies that serve meat. Do they run a furrier too? Does anyone else see the hypocrisy here? I don’t give a shit because I’m not a vegetarian, but if i were a vegan/vegetarian PETA member this would piss me off.
Josh has some very good points. People want to eat meat. Our bodies were built to do just that. It’s never going to change.
Really, this wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if it weren’t for their extremism. PETA and groups like it need to calm down. I agree that major, major changes ought to be made to the industry, but I don’t particularly care for their pro-vegan agenda. One’s gotta wonder when they’ll try to outlaw one wild animal from eating another. “Now, now, lions. Mr. Antelope has as much right to live as you. Try some soy instead!”
That is so awesome! I did not know PETA bought stock in those companies! What a great way to make a difference! I’ve been helping PETA through the toolbar i downloaded from http://www.give2network.com. It’s great because it lets all my searching and shopping online (which I do anyways) benefit PETA by giving them donations.
I’m a vegetarian and was never attracted to PETA. What Hypocrites! It’s like Al Gore owning stock on Chevron. This is why progress rarely gets made anywhere… we don’t put our money where our mouth is. Instead, we get greedy.
Stacy, you must be an altruistic college student or peta spam. Someday you will learn.