PETA Protests Nude Downtown

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - You may have been one of hundreds of drivers and pedestrians to notice a scantily clad woman standing on the corner of Union and South Main Tuesday. She was representing PETA and their aversion to meat eaters, but these days PETA may need more than half naked model to get its point across.

High noon in downtown Memphis and PETA, the international organization devoted to protesting killing animals and eating their meat, once again tested the shock value derived from the spectacle of "What do you say to a naked lady?"

In this case it was an almost nude activist painted with a butcher's diagram and hugging the barely-there poster reading, "All Animals Have The Same Parts - Go Vegan."

Before the "unveiling" at Union and South Main, Amanda Fortino, a PETA campaign coordinator, declared, "As long as factory farms are open, we'll be out here. It is a startling image and kind of gross to think about how cooking and eating a human being. But, it's just a reminder that we all have the same capacity to feel pain and terror."

Fortino added, "It's never been easier to go vegetarian. You can go into any local grocery store and find a vegan option."

However, in plain sight of unsuspecting and temporarily mesmerized people, including parents who might have been forced to explain to their gaping-eyed children what being naked had to do with what's for dinner, it's really never certain whether PETA's infamous ambush tactics effectively exposes their message to the masses. We found curiosity among passing Memphians didn't always translate into a warm-all-over feeling for the cause.

Antonio Salas, visiting Memphis from Argentina, admitted, "It arises some conscience about it. I don't know. Argentinean culture, like everybody, eats meat. Really we haven't gotten there yet."

A downtown visitor, North Dakota's James Harper, was less skeptical saying, "I don't know if it gets the message across, but it sure makes everybody look at the sign. No, she can jump around naked, that ain't gonna stop me eating meat!"

A veteran military man remarked while snapping a picture, "She's against meats and all that other stuff? Right, that's it. She'd never make it in the Navy!"

Another passerby joked, 'I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate vegetables."

Ironically, the attention generated by the visual protest seemed to be just as equally beneficial to the hot dog vendor located right across the street.

One customer there barked, "I believe in individual freedom and I don't believe people should tell me what I can and cannot eat!!"

Perhaps, on their next visit to Memphis, PETA might be better off just sticking to the "bare facts" to promote awareness of their cause.