| UPC President Karen Davis has a letter
in the December 2003 issue of the magazine, The American Enterprise.
The letter is a response to a commentary that appeared in the July/August
issue of The American Enterprise criticizing UPC’s opposition
to certain AFLAC duck commercials (“one UPC official with ruffled
feathers has branded the commercials ‘degrading to ducks,’
and claimed that animal abuse could be fostered by them”).
UPC LETTER, p. 63:
Tait Trussell suggests that animal-rights activists’ concern
about the media’s portrayal of animals is frivolous (SCAN,
“Quack Whack,” July/August).
The AFLAC duck commercial isn’t the worst thing on television,
but it isn’t the wisest either. Trussell says the “hazardous
scenes are obviously played by a robot duck,” but this isn’t
obvious, nor intended to be. The AFLAC duck is a composite of live
ducks and simulated images. I don’t know whether the ducks
were harmed during filming of the commercial, but even if they were
not, the Grand Canyon ad, for example, definitely suggests that
a live duck fell (or was pushed) from a height, and landed hard.
Trussell speaks of young cancer patients at the AFLAC Cancer Center
“hugging proudly” the company’s fake ducks. Could
this sad image signify, in part, a need for a much healthier diet?
There are many health concerns associated with the consumption
of animal products, including heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Karen Davis, President
United Poultry Concerns
Machipongo, Virginia
|
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.