Backround info: They run these commericals out here about "Happy Cows" and the cows talk and say how much they like living in CA and the sunny weather, etc., etc. Actually kind of a neat marketing/ad campaign. They're funny...
Stoopid (but true) News:
Animal rights activists who complain that California dairy cows do not live the happy life shown in a popular television advertising campaign for the state's cheese producers say they'll go to court to force the ads off the air.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and author John Robbins of Santa Cruz, using California's strong consumer protection laws, plan to ask a San Francisco Superior Court judge on Wednesday to ban the Happy Cows ads. They say the ads are false, unfairly favor California cheese over other states' cheeses and mislead consumers about environmental damage from the dairy industry.
The humorous ads, which feature cows that talk, show cows in green pastures and contend that "great cheese comes from happy cows." Happy cows, the ads say, come from California.
In a recent commercial, a high-strung chicken pesters two impassive cows for the secret of their tranquility. Finally, the chicken says, "Silence. OK, like a Zen thing. I get it, grasshopper."
After the chicken moves on, one cow says, "Wow." The other chimes in, "Yeah, poultry."
The California Milk Advisory Board, which produced the ads, credits the commercials with helping California close in on Wisconsin, the leading cheese producer with more than 2 billion pounds of cheese in 2001. California farmers produced 1.6 billion pounds.
"Where the ads are seen, it creates more demand," said Nancy Fletcher, the milk advisory board's spokeswoman.
But PETA says most California dairy cows live not in bucolic pastures, but in filthy, grassless lots where they are forced to give too much milk and are separated from their calves too soon.
"Increasing numbers of the public do want to know how the food they eat is produced," said Robbins, son of a co-founder of Baskin-Robbins ice cream.
Robbins is a vegetarian, and PETA advocates a dairy-free diet. But Robbins said the issue is informed choice.
"This ad campaign is such an affront to people who want to make an informed choice," he said.
The complaint says, "Contrary to the depictions in the Happy Cows ads, the vast majority of California dairy cows do not live easy lives."
In October, the Federal Trade Commission declined to take action on a similar complaint from PETA.
Fletcher said the group, having lost at the FTC, is simply shopping for anyone to take a look at the complaint, which she said is groundless.
"The better our farmers take care of cows, the more productive they are," she said. "It's in the best interest of dairy farmers to take care of their cows."
--------------------------------------------------On the Net: PETA: www.peta-online.org
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