Have you ever been munching on a turkey leg and thought, “Man, I bet this is how my neighbor Frank tastes!” — well, if you’re PETA, you have.
The animal rights organization teamed up with Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller and actress Gillian Anderson to produce a new advertisement that outright likens turkey-eaters to cannibals, just in time for Thanksgiving Day.
In the ad, seen above, Anderson sits at a finely set dinner table staring longingly at a long, cylindrical, steaming slab of meat.
Close up on Anderson: “Eating meat. It’s a matter of taste,” the actress breathes.
The camera pans down and, oh, it’s Anderson’s own leg that’s steaming on the dinner table.
“Writing Hannibal made me realize that human beings and other animals have more similarities than differences,” series creator Fuller said in a statement. “It had a direct impact on how I view meat and what I put in my body. Eating another sentient being is no different than eating another human being, in my mind. The trauma of Hannibal cuts both ways.”
This isn’t the first time the organization has compared turkeys to human beings; in 2012, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk lobbied President Obama to cancel the traditional turkey-pardoning ceremony the day before Thanksgiving, and, in the process, ended up comparing turkeys to African-Americans, women, and LGBT people.
Of course, PETA has become known for its star-studded, eye-catching advertising campaigns. Pamela Anderson is a big advocate for the group, as are Steve-O and Ryan Gosling. (Actress Jennifer Lawrence isn’t a fan.)
In other PETA news, a Virginia family is suing the organization for taking their young daughter’s dog and euthanizing it without permission.
Happy Turkey Day!