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HSUS uses animated video to present its views on hog farming to children
Story Date: 10/25/2012
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Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 10/24/12
In an animated video that anthropomorphizes food animals, the Humane Society of the United States is aiming its opposition to hog production practices at children.
The HSUS teamed up with Academy award-winning film company Aardman Animations to produce a four-minute animated children’s film titled “A Pig’s Tail” that it bills as “exposing problems with factory farming from the perspective of a piglet named Ginger.”
The film was released today to coincide with Food Day, a national effort created by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to change the way Americans eat and think about food. The HSUS film is intended for children ages 7 to 10.
“We hope ‘A Pig’s Tail’ will launch a conversation about how food gets to the table and help end inhumane practices in the pork industry,” said Joe Maxwell, vice president of outreach and engagement at The HSUS.
A call to action
"HSUS' continuous attacks against America's farmers and ranchers not only hurt the thousands of farm families who dedicate their lives to the care and well-being of their animals, but it also intentionally misleads consumers about modern food production to promote its extremist agenda," Animal Agriculture Alliance CEO Kay Johnson Smith told Meatingplace. She noted that HSUS leaders have said, 'Nothing is more important than promoting veganism.'"
“The HSUS decision to target young children is no surprise given the cynical ‘all-or-nothing’ approach this group takes to political issues,” Steve Kopperud, executive vice president at Policy Directions, told Meatingplace. “The naïve and short-sighted approach of Hollywood is also no surprise given the HSUS' courting of those who facilitate these attacks with little care for the facts and reasons for on-farm practices.
“Having said that, farmers and ranchers — and industries which rely upon them — can't afford to abandon consumer audiences to this kind of political propaganda and needs to step up its game in talking to the public at all age levels. Unfortunately, if such efforts are underway, they're not as apparent and consistent as they need to be,” Kopperud added.
North American Meat Association spokesman Jeremy Russell shared his reaction to the video with Meatingplace: "I've watched the video this morning and would describe it as simplistic, reality-distorting propaganda targeting children for the explicit purpose of prejudicing them against modern farming. Coming from HSUS, it's a shame, but not a surprise."
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
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