PETA India has stirred widespread online backlash following the launch of its bold vegan campaign, rolled out earlier this month in conjunction with World Milk Day.
The organization, known for its controversial advocacy strategies, unveiled a striking billboard across major cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Noida.
The billboard features a woman drinking a dog’s milk, accompanied by the message: “If You Wouldn’t Drink Dogs’ Milk, Why Drink the Milk of Any Other Species?”
Challenging Speciesism: PETA’s Message Behind the Controversy
According to PETA India, the campaign aims to challenge speciesism—a bias that grants preference to certain species over others. The organization argues that there is no moral distinction between consuming milk from cows and milk from dogs.
In a statement, PETA said: “There’s nothing natural about forcefully impregnating cows and buffaloes, stealing their babies, and consuming the milk meant for their young.” The billboard, they added, is intended to provoke thought about the ethics of dairy consumption.
For #WorldMilkDay, PETA India’s striking new billboards in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Mumbai, and Noida deliver a powerful message: “If You Wouldn’t Drink Dogs’ Milk, Why Drink the Milk of Any Other Species?”
Dairy production is rooted in cruelty, from forced… pic.twitter.com/QhJQwTF3Ek
— PETA India (@PetaIndia) June 1, 2025
Social Media Divided: Many Say the Campaign Crossed the Line
While the ad garnered attention, much of the online reaction was far from positive. Many social media users criticized the execution of the message, calling it “disturbing” and “distasteful.”
One user commented, “This message could’ve been conveyed differently. This just misses the mark entirely.” Another added, “How do I unsee this now?”
A third user expressed concern over the visual editing of the billboard: “It’s disturbing to edit images this way. The only thing going for you is that dogs can’t speak up. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have liked being portrayed like this.”
A Minority Applauds the Honesty: “Reality Is Disturbing”
Despite the criticism, some individuals defended PETA’s campaign, saying that the discomfort caused by the ad is a reflection of the disturbing reality behind dairy production. “If this disturbs you, it’s because the reality is disturbing. We’ve just normalised it,” one supporter noted. Another suggested that the campaign might be more effective if governments also backed the promotion of affordable plant-based milk alternatives.
Sharing the billboard online, PETA captioned their post with: “Dairy production is rooted in cruelty, from forced impregnation to the heartbreaking separation of calves from their mothers. Cows are not milk machines; their milk is for calves, not humans. Ditch dairy.”
While the message aligns with PETA’s long-standing mission to advocate for animal rights, this latest campaign has sparked intense debate over the boundaries of activism and the ethics of shock advertising.
