Billboard equating vegetarianism with Immaculate Conception removed

Published: 2003-12-08

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) -- A billboard promoting vegetarianism by using an image of the Blessed Mother with a dead chicken was removed Dec. 5 from a site in East Providence following several days of negative reaction from community and religious leaders. The advertisement, placed Nov. 26, was bought by the national animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, after Vegan Outreach, a program within the national group, initiated the campaign. It showed the Blessed Mother holding a dead chicken beside the words: "Go Vegetarian. It's an Immaculate Conception." The day after the billboard drew national and local media attention Dec. 1, the ad was vandalized at least twice, with someone writing the word "Shame" on it, and someone else subsequently writing "Shame on eating animals," said William Rivas-Rivas, campaign coordinator for PETA. Rivas-Rivas said that the organization agreed to have the billboard ad taken down after officials from Murray Outdoor Communications, the billboard company based in Shrewsbury, Mass., expressed concern that anyone trying to deface the ad further might be injured and hold the company liable.

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