Parents and Teens Targeted With Unusual and Frank Birth-Control Message
For Immediate Release:
April 12, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Jackson, Miss. — Prompted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent announcement that Mississippi has the highest teen-pregnancy rate in the nation, PETA plans to air its controversial "Sex Talk" ad on TV stations servicing the Jackson area. The ad makes a satirical comparison to teen sex to promote the spaying and neutering of dogs and cats.
The 30-second spot, available here, features a couple encouraging their teenage daughter to become sexually active. When the horrified girl asks, "What if I get pregnant?" her parents urge her to "pop out all the kids" she wants. They add, "We can leave them in the shelter, dump them in the streets … whatever!" The ad concludes, "Parents shouldn't act this way. Neither should people with dogs and cats. Always spay or neuter."
"As with teen pregnancy, every state has a problem with unplanned pregnancies that add to the homeless dog and cat crisis," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "No one should be bringing more animals into the world when millions of animals are literally dying for lack of good homes."
One unspayed female cat and her offspring can create a whopping 420,000 cats in just seven years, and one unneutered male dog can father nearly limitless litters. Six to 8 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters every year in the U.S., and roughly half of them must be euthanized because there simply aren't enough good homes. Unwanted dogs and cats who never make it to animal shelters are often abandoned to fend for themselves on the streets, where they are often subjected to cruelty and suffer from starvation, disease, or injuries. The solution is simple: spaying and neutering as well as adopting from shelters instead of buying animals from breeders or pet stores.
For more information, please visit PETA.org