Iowa rejects racy PETA billboards

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals can’t get an Iowa advertising company to take their money. Joe Haptas is a campaign coordinator for PETA, which wants to launch a campaign linking meat-eating to impotence in men. He calls it “very mild” in design with a picture of a pig, a hot dog and a man looking down the front of his pants, and a caption that says in part “poor weiner.” He says in the past they’ve run a billboard linked to the beef industry and impotence and this is a different twist on the point that eating meat affects Americans’ health. But Haptas says two billboard firms, in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, have turned their money down. PETA’s not giving up. Haptas says the group really wants to run the ads in Iowa because it’s a major pork-producing state. He adds diners need to get the message that consumption of animal products like pork damages all arteries, to the heart, head or other parts of the body. Haptas asserts that the meat-centered diet leads to heart attack and stroke and their point is the same kind of vessel-blocking effect. Haptas admits PETA doesn’t have any data actually comparing vegetarian men with meat-eaters in the rate of sexual dysfunction, but he’d love to see such information.