PETA campaign opts for 'shock value'

A blood-splattered human being covered with plastic wrap on a Styrofoam tray isn’t something that would be offered next to other items in the meat section in any supermarket, and with good reason.\nHowever, Ashley Byrne doesn’t see much of a difference between this and any other packaged unit of chicken or beef.\n“We’re hoping that when people see graphic images they’ll think about pigs, chickens and humans,” she said. “Flesh is flesh.”\nByrne, campaign coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, along with several other volunteers, staged a protest against consuming meat products on Monday morning in People’s Park. \nPETA interns Cassandra Calahan and Chelsea Pagan-Hermina laid sprawled out almost completely naked and splattered with stage blood on large Styrofoam trays under plastic wrap in the hot late morning sun. Stickers covered their chests labeling them “FLESH,” priced at $3.18 a pound. The stickers also stated that “Billions of animals are abused and violently killed because you eat meat.”\nDespite the discomfort that comes from baking in the sun sprawled out in such unnatural positions, Byrne said the interns are both still willing to do it for PETA’s cause.\n“They both have always just said it’s nothing compared to what animals on factory farms go through,” Byrne said. “If most people saw how animals are turned into hot dogs, chicken nuggets, steak, they would lose their lunch.”\nThe interns as well as Byrnes are traveling to various cities in the Midwest from Iowa to Ohio to promote PETA’s cause. Their Bloomington visit has been in the works for about a month.\nPassersby gawked, pointed and shook their heads at the display near the street as the other volunteers handed out information on PETA, trying to get a word in about their message.\nSome, like Indianapolis resident Scott Lintner, were not swayed by the graphic display.\n“I actually like meat,” he said as he walked by.\nLintner doesn’t believe this kind of public display is the most effective way of getting other people to change how they live.\n“People have either chosen to eat meat or not,” he said, before adding his doubt that this kind of display is appropriate for a public place.\n“It kind of smacks, almost,” he said. “There’s a lot of shock value.”\nHowever, that’s just what volunteer and IU associate instructor Karen Danielson thinks should be done to get people’s attention.\n“Shock is always very effective,” she said. “It makes people sit and question whether or not these things are good.”