pElAgUS' 

au

Oct 28 - A CONFRONTING advertising campaign highlighting the plight of
factory-farmed pigs has been rejected by some women's magazines amid
suggestions that it might upset the meat industry.

Eight titles have refused to run the ads containing images that mimic
recipe features found in such magazines.

A company that sells space on billboards in supermarket car parks has
also stopped the ads.

The setback has forced the backers of the $500,000 campaign -
including a Hollywood studio producing a film in the vein of Babe - to
attempt to book ads in tomorrow's newspapers.

Brian Sherman, director of the animal protection group Voiceless, part
of an alliance funding the ads, speculated that the meat industry
might threaten to withdraw the $800,000 it spends each year on
magazine advertising.

"Obviously media companies get advertising from groups that might not
want to see this advertising, " Mr Sherman said.

Marie Claire, Delicious and Good Weekend are among those refusing to
take the ads, leaving Woman's Day and the Australian Women's Weekly to
run them.

The ads feature colour photographs of freshly cooked pork dishes with
headlines such as Traumatised Suckling Piglet with Severed Tail
accompanying text detailing how week-old piglets have their tails
snipped and their eye teeth removed with clippers without any pain relief.

"It might be confronting, but it's the reality," said Glenys Oogjes,
executive director of Animals Australia, which is also behind the
campaign.

Paramount Pictures made a "significant" donation to Animals Australia
after it found homes for the 40 piglets used during the Australian
shoot of Charlotte's Web.

Publishers denied they were under any pressure from the meat industry
to reject the ads. They said the ads were rejected because they were
inappropriate.

A pork industry spokesman said the ads misrepresented farming practices.

Photo:
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/10/27/pork281006_narrowweb__300x370,0.jpg
Caption: Ads for pork sausages and fillet.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/10/27/1161749320998.html

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