PETA has come under fire for launching a “sexist” dairy-free campaign at Wimbledon.
It sent half-naked pin up models to hand out strawberries and dairy-free cream to the worlds best known tennis championship.
But thousands of outraged animal rights campaigners have now cancelled their PETA memberships and branded the use of models in swimsuits “sexist”.
PETA’s latest campaign featured two young women wearing 1950s-style red, white and blue swimsuits handing out sweet treats to people queuing for tournament tickets.
But the backlash was swift and it was soon branded “sexist”, “tired” and “distasteful”, causing fury amongst social media users.
Some people even accused PETA of objectifying women and valuing animals over humans.
Sharon McGuigan said: “Exploitation of women’s bodies is never a good look. Another sexist campaign. You value animals over women.”
His views were supported by another Twitter user Jennie Berman. She sated: “PETA, your “I wasn’t you to be vegan” campaign is sexist and objectifying to women. Why do women come in second to animals?”
@mugglayann tweeted : “ I used to support PETA, until I realised they make their campaign works through their sexist ads. I cancelled my membership.”
Red- faced PETA was quick to hit back, saying that their Wimbledon campaign was aimed to end cows being treated like milk-producing machines.
The charity said its strawberries and vegan cream campaign helped to expose more plant-based alternatives to the dairy market.
Elisa Allen, the director of PETA UK said: “PETA supports anyone using their bodies to make a social statement if they chose to. As an organisation staffed largely by feminist women, we believe women should be free to use their minds and bodies as political instruments to bring attention to animal suffering.”
Wimbledon officials have not yet commented on the PETA stunt, but confirmed that it breached their strict marketing guidelines.
