For Immediate Release:
February 2, 2012
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
Madison, Wis. -- After learning that Middleton's National Mustard Museum has landed in financial hot water, PETA wrote to Barry Levenson, the museum's curator, with an offer it hopes he'll find as palatable as the museum's namesake. PETA wants to pay to place an ad inside or in front of the museum featuring a photo of a sexy "Lettuce Lady" and the caption "Meat Doesn’t Cut the Mustard. Try Veggie Dogs. PETA." PETA points out that besides being animal-friendly and heart-healthy, vegan foods—which contain zero cholesterol and tend to be low in fat and calories—can help people lose unwanted pounds and keep them off.
"Mustard over ground-up pig parts is so yesterday. Our veggie dogs ad will help the National Mustard Museum avoid being squeezed out of business," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA's ad shows that you can enjoy mustard without risking dangerous dioxin levels—and, according to a New York Times report, the maggots, worms, and other unsavory items—often found in meaty hot dogs."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Barry Levenson, founder and curator of the National Mustard Museum, follows.
Barry Levenson
Founder and Curator
National Mustard Museum
Dear Mr. Levenson:
I am writing on behalf of PETA and our more than 3 million members and supporters, including thousands in Wisconsin, to offer the National Mustard Museum a little help in paying back the county's loan. While your whimsical displays and mouthwatering condiment samples add to a perfect family outing, we hate to see that delicious mustard slathered on waist-expanding, artery-clogging meat. That's why we would like to pay to place an ad inside or in front of the museum. The ad would feature a sexy "Lettuce Lady" enjoying a veggie dog with mustard and read, "Meat Doesn't Cut the Mustard. Try Veggie Dogs! PETA." (Click here to see what we envision.) We would also be happy to provide you with some free veggie dogs or cocktail-size samples to offer at the tasting bar.
As we all know, a vegan diet helps protect against some of our country's biggest killers, including heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes. A balanced vegan diet provides us with all the nutrients that our bodies need—without the saturated animal fats and cholesterol found in meat, eggs, and dairy products. Vegans also are about 18 percent thinner, on average, than their meat-eating counterparts. Veggie dogs are not only delicious but also packed with healthy plant protein, and they have far less fat than meat-based hot dogs.
What's more, everyone who eats vegan meals saves more than 100 animals a year from the horrors of filthy factory farms and frightening slaughterhouses. In today's industrialized meat and dairy industries, chickens and turkeys have their throats slit while they're still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers, fish are suffocated or cut open while they're still alive on the decks of fishing boats, and calves are taken away from their mothers within hours of birth.
Our cute ad could help make the National Mustard Museum's visitors trimmer and its pocketbook fatter. Please contact me at your convenience to let me know what you think of our proposal.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President