fur files

First Lady’s Office Displeased With New PETA Ad

A new PETA ad running in the D.C. metro area features Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Tyra Banks, and Carrie Underwood. All four women have publicly shunned fur, but the First Lady’s office is upset over the inclusion of Michelle, which was done without her consent. “We did not consent to this,” a spokeswoman for Michelle told USA Today, declining further comment. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk says the First Lady’s consent wasn’t sought because they know the White House can’t make such an endorsement; they just included her because she has publicly renounced fur. So by that logic, if we say we love broccoli, and broccoli farmers decide to make us the face of broccoli, we’re just supposed to be okay with our faces randomly appearing on a broccoli billboard one day? Or if we say we feel bad for eating veal and lamb because it makes us think of poor baby animals, does that give an organization the right to put our face on an ad renouncing baby-animal eaters? Because we wouldn’t want either of those things. Well, most likely.

Though this ad could have been slapped together by a Photoshop amateur, PETA has done highly stylized ads in the past. Maybe Michelle and her people are partly upset that her photo wasn’t given the same artistic consideration. She has been in Vogue, after all.

Fur Fury: White House Objects to Michelle Obama PETA Ad [NBC Chicago]
Michelle Obama an unwilling PETA model [Oval/USA Today]

First Lady’s Office Displeased With New PETA Ad