BY RANDY TUCKER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is adding a new twist to its continuing effort to pressure Procter & Gamble Co. into ending animal tests on products.
Instead of targeting the Cincinnati-based consumer-product giant's company name or its executives, PETA has begun focusing on P&G's products, such as Tide.
Tide and its maker will be at the center of PETA's first print advertising campaign, which will begin appearing in publications -- including Cincinnati's CityBeat -- as early as next week, said Dan Mathews, director of campaigns for PETA.
The $25,000 ad campaign, which Mr. Mathews estimated would have cost $100,000 if not for the reduced ad rates some national magazines offered, also will include a billboard in Manhattan. At least one local advertising expert said PETA's new strategy may be effective.
"An argument about animal testing in a philosophical sense is kind of complicated, and people's eyes glaze over," said Jerry Galvin, a partner in the Cincinnati advertising firm, Galvin Kemper Advertising. "But if you say, "Look. An animal was killed in order to bring you this product.' Then, all of a sudden, the issue is relevant."
PETA's new ad -- a parody of P&G's old Tide commercials -- features a man in a blond wig and brightly colored dress holding a reddish-orange box that resembles a box of Tide but with a label that reads "Died."
The tagline: "Sometimes big, bright packages contain dirty little secrets."
"We wanted to show how colorful packaging can cover up a shocking secret, and what funnier way to do it than with a drag queen," Mr. Mathews said, refering to New York drag queen, Lady Bunny, who is featured in the ad.
P&G officials aren't laughing.
"We're very disappointed," P&G spokeswoman Mindy Montgomery Patton said. "We really want to work productively with animal- welfare groups . . . and I don't think tactics like this help us reach that common goal."
Ms. Patton pointed out that P&G has reduced animal testing for non-drug consumer products by more than 80 percent since 1984 and invested more than $90 million in the search for alternatives. But that's not good enough for PETA, which has waged war on P&G's animal-testing policy since the mid-1980s.
In the past, PETA members have resorted to more in-your-face methods to get their point across.
In February, a PETA advocate struck P&G Chairman and CEO John Pepper in the face with a tofu cream pie.
In August, two PETA protesters were arrested in front of Mr. Pepper's house after passing out fliers.
