Wednesday, March 17, 1999
PETA to cease fire on Pepper
P&G chairman negotiates peace
BY RANDY TUCKER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Tuesday that it has called a halt to its pie-in-the-face campaign against Procter & Gamble Co.'s John Pepper as a result of a personal plea from the retired CEO.
P&G acknowledged that Mr. Pepper called PETA President Ingrid Newkirk recently after several months of dialogue between P&G scientists and PETA representatives, and two high-profile, pie-throwing incidents.
“During the call, Mr. Pepper emphasized that the pies were being disruptive to the audiences around him and were really not having an impact on how P&G was thinking about animal testing and alternatives,” said Mindy Patton, a P&G spokeswoman.
In a letter responding to Mr. Pepper's call, Ms. Newkirk said she would ask PETA members to stop throwing pies in Mr. Pepper's face because he promised to consider a moratorium on animal testing.
“I will ask our grass-roots campaigners to leave you in peace. ... Please do what you need to do to make sure that I have done the right thing by
bringing you the peace of mind you requested,” the letter reads.
Early last month, two PETA members, protesting Cincinnati-based P&G's limited use of animals to test some products, smashed tofu cream pies in Mr. Pepper's face during a speech he was giving at Northwestern University.
Mr. Pepper, who remains chairman of the consumer-products company, was the target of a similar attack in February 1998, when a PETA protester hit him in the face with a pie as he received an award from Ohio's governor in Columbus.
He brushed both incidents off as publicity stunts, and refused to press charges or take any other legal action against the pie throwers.
“As we've said all along, we believe it's much more productive for us to be working constructively together, versus having the publicity stunts that really aren't advancing our common goal of eliminating animal testing,” Ms. Patton said.
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