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PETA "lettuce lady" Kristie Sigmon dispensed veggie
sub sandwiches and pro-vegetarian information on
June 26 at the organization's GoVeg.com pig
downtown, one of PETA's two entries in the Big Pig
Gig
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The Big Pig Gig is slowly taking over Cincinnati. All those tubby pigs in pajamas and tutus celebrating the city's history as a premier pork slaughterhouse make you want to go out and get a nice ham, don't they?
Well, shame on you, says People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which is sponsoring two pig figures to help make Cincinnatians aware of what our little pink friends go through just to satisfy desires for "the other white meat."
A pig's life isn't all about playing tic-tac-toe in the mud or being the poster child for why disco died in 1970s, says Sean Gifford, vegetarian campaign coordinator for PETA. In fact, it's horrid and unimaginable.
"On today's factory farms, many pigs never take a breath of fresh air until they're on the back of a truck headed for slaughter," Gifford says. "They're castrated and have their tails cut off and their teeth ripped out, all without painkillers. After a life of confinement, they are strung upside down and have their throats slit, often while they're still conscious."
Graphic, yes, but Gifford and PETA believe that if the public were privy to this information, they might reach for Fakin' Bacon in their grocer's freezer instead of the real deal. After all, he says, if this were done to cats and dogs it would be considered animal cruelty.
PETA tried to reach out in a not so graphic way when planning their participation in the "World's Largest PigNic," the Pig Gig's June 10 kickoff event on Fountain Square, by selling veggie hot dogs as an alternative to meat. Although the group focuses on humane treatment of animals, it advocates vegetarianism to promote healthy lifestyles as well.
But ArtWorks, the brains behind the Pig Gig, would have no part of the plan, Gifford says, because Cincinnati-based Hillshire Farm and Kahn's Co., maker of Kahn's hot dogs, is a main sponsor of the Pig Gig.
"Kahn's had category exclusivity," says Betsy Neyer, spokesperson for the Big Pig Gig. Since Kahn's ponied up so much cash, she says, it had the right to shut down any group that wanted to sell a "competing" item, like veggie hot dogs.
Interestingly enough, Skyline Chili wasn't shut down. It also had a booth at the PigNic and was busy filling orders for cheese coneys, using not Kahn's but Blue Grass hot dogs to fill their buns.
"It's the hot dog of choice by the commissary, where all the chili is made and distributed," says Bill Miller, a runner for Skyline Chili in Kenwood. Miller does all the behind the scenes work for the Kenwood Skyline, including ordering food from the distribution company.
Julie Schroeder in the consumer promotions department at Hillshire Farm and Kahn's Co. says she can't comment on the company's prohibiting PETA from selling veggie dogs at the PigNic or on PETA's involvement in the Pig Gig. She does say that the company is pleased with its overall involvement in the Pig Gig.
Veggie dogs notwithstanding, PETA responded to its invitation from ArtWorks to participate in the PigNic and showed up with vegetarian subs and chili. Its booth distributed about 400 "NOT! Ham-wiches" and 300 bowls of chili made with enriched soy substitute.
"We were able to put out a really healthy food that people enjoyed eating," Gifford says. "The event was a big success."
As a follow-up outreach program, PETA "lettuce ladies" handed out 80 veggie sub sandwiches in 30 minutes of standing by one of their pigs, GoVeg.com, at the corner of Fifth and Elm streets on June 26. The lettuce ladies, clad only in strategically placed lettuce leaves, tried to increase vegetarian awareness while promoting PETA's GoVeg.com Web site.
"Many people probably don't realize that nearly 100 million pigs are killed each year for nothing more than a pallet preference," says PETA spokesperson Kristie Sigmon.
Gifford says he initially was "bothered" by not being able to sell the veggie hot dogs at the PigNic, feeling there was something inherently unconstitutional about it.
In a letter to Tamara Harkavy, executive director of ArtWorks and a vegetarian, Gifford wrote, "I'm sorry to have to raise this, but to prohibit the sale of veggie dogs at a public picnic arguably violates Article I, Section 7, of the Constitution of Ohio, which allows citizens to make ethical decisions free from interference."
Gifford also felt the banning infringed on his First Amendment right to free speech to advocate vegetarianism as well. In the end, he says, PETA decided to play nice, man the PigNic booth and not bring legal action against ArtWorks.
In New York City, which is showcasing its own public art project featuring barnyard animals -- Cows on Parade -- PETA is in the midst of a federal court hearing because the city nixed one of its cow designs.
The city, deeming the cow "graphic and inappropriate," Gifford says, banned PETA's cow because it depicted the animal with all the cuts of meat outlined on its body and, inside the cuts, various quotes advocating vegetarianism. Specifically, the city rejected three of the cow's quotes, saying they would be inappropriate for children to read.
The cow design is similar to PETA's GoVeg.com pig, which features quotes from famous vegetarians scrolled all over his body, including George Bernard Shaw and James Cromwell, the actor who played the farmer in Babe and became a vegetarian after working on the film.
PETA's other pig, which sits in front of the east entrance to the Aronoff Center for the Arts on Main Street, has a T-shirt that reads, "No, I don't have any spare ribs."
Gifford says that PETA didn't bid quick enough for one of Chicago's cows in that city's public art project last year. The group did, however, sell veggie sandwiches at a later event while the cow figures were being auctioned off.
PETA's pigs are two of five vegetarian pigs tootin' around the city this summer. The other three are sponsored by Jungle Jim's Market, the local vegetarian group Earthsave and Farm Sanctuary, a vegetarian group from New York.
"Factory farming is so cruel," says Mary Ann Lederer, artist for the three non-PETA pigs. "It's sickening. The animal never has one second of freedom."
While PETA and the other groups find the Big Pig Gig a great vehicle for their vegetarian activism, one local group thinks they're making a mockery out of the vegetarian movement.
"It's a waste of money toward PETA's cause," says Ryan Courtade, spokesperson for Love All Animals, a local animal rights group consisting of 16 local teen-agers.
PETA invested a total of $10,000 in creating their pigs, Gifford says.
As far as the irony involved in an animal rights group taking part in a project that celebrates a city's pig slaughtering past, Gifford says the Pig Gig was the "perfect opportunity to experience pigs in a different way."
But is PETA's message being heard? It turns out that most people who've seen Pig Gig figures don't give much thought to the consequences for the real animals that made Cincinnati into Porkopolis. Most, in fact, chuckle at the idea.
Asked if she thought the Pig Gig had made her more sympathetic to pigs, Linda Brown of Hyde Park replies, "No," laughing.
"I'm not into pigs anyway," she says, citing pork-eating's unhealthy side effects of high blood pressure and cholesterol as her reasons for avoiding the meat in her diet.
Others say the fiberglas pigs haven't curbed their pork cravings at all.
"When I'm looking at a pork chop, those pigs don't cross my mind," says Bob Freytag, 53, of Fort Mitchell.
"Makes me hungry," says Karl Zhee, 27, of Fairfield, smiling.
Frank Rodgers, 32, of Western Hills says the display doesn't change his opinion of pork.
"I don't eat pork anyway," he says, adding that he doesn't think the Pig Gig would change the point of view of others downtown, believing that others just see the pigs as pretty. "They don't even think of the health hazards." ©
