- PETA is an animal rights activism group known for shocking publicity stunts.
- The group’s latest “campaign” takes place in the virtual museum of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
- This stunt appears to be backfiring, and it’s glorious.
It seems like PETA finally cracked. The so-called animal “rights” organization, famous for killing more animals than they save, is coming for your video games. Their latest target? Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
For what purpose? I honestly don’t know. Aside from writing a new chapter in their long history of struggling to prove their relevancy by stirring up a media circus through desperate publicity stunts.
PETA Is the Westboro Baptist Church of Animal Rights
They’ll probably chastise me for this idiom, but let’s face facts here: PETA has jumped the shark. They really are the “Westboro Baptist Church of animal rights.”
Forget the absurdity of the opposition to keeping pet fish. What do they think they’re accomplishing by “storming” a virtual museum to empty digital fish tanks?
But that’s just the tip of the insanity iceberg.
Before these PETA activists could triumphantly raid the museum and type “EMPTY THE TANKS” into the chat window, they had to purchase multiple copies of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Then they had to catch the fish and manually put them into the fish tanks.
(They probably even secretly enjoyed it.)
Only then could they storm the museum to liberate the fish from… themselves?
The only thing more baffling is that PETA thought this was a good idea. The video is loaded with hashtags and branding. They clearly think this will reflect positively on them, though I’m at a loss for why.
Animal Crossing Raid Is Weirdly Appropriate for PETA
But let’s forget about how silly it is for a relatively unpopular group to attack such a popular – and utterly harmless- video game.
Instead, let’s focus on PETA itself. This is an animal “rights” group that, in 2019, killed over 65% of the cats and dogs they “rescued.”
They defend them as “mercy killings.”
This is not a group that truly has animals’ best interests at heart. In 2015 alone, they amassed $42 million in donations. Yet there’s ample evidence that far too much of this cash is directed toward pointless PR projects.
This bizarre assault on Animal Crossing: New Horizons is just the latest example.
Even if you believe in total animal liberation – i.e., no more pets, seeing-eye dogs, or even pixelated aquariums – there has got to be a better way.
Do not give money to a group willing to shamelessly whore themselves out to the press – and then brag about it. Especially not when that group is using that money to kill the very animals you genuinely want to save.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.
