African-American Stars Combat Fast-Food Industry's Meaty Fare

African-American consumers—a major target of fast-food advertising for unhealthy meat-based foods—are fighting back as part of a very different initiative. They are starring in PETA's ads promoting healthy, vegetarian foods. PETA is spending grant funds to run the television spots featuring Oscar winner Forest Whitaker and NBA champ John Salley—who discuss why they kicked the meat habit—and online ads featuring civil rights leader The Rev. Al Sharpton, who blasts KFC's cruelty to chickens and marketing to African-Americans.
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Forest Whitaker's Veggie Testimonial Rev Al Sharpton Speaks Out Against KFC John Salley's Veggie Testimonial

It's an open secret that fast-food companies target African-American communities with ads promoting foods jam-packed with fat and cholesterol: foods that are produced as cheaply—and, often, as cruelly—as they can get away with. Magazines and TV shows that target African-Americans have fewer advertisements for healthy food than other publications do, and most of the food advertised can make people fat and sick.

Of all the ill health effects of eating meat, diabetes is taking an especially high toll on African-Americans. According to the American Diabetes Association, in the U.S., more than 3 million African-Americans 20 years old or older have diabetes and African-Americans are almost twice as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites.

The good news is that when people see how easy it is to switch to a healthful, humane vegetarian diet, they're less likely to pick up another burger or drumstick. PETA has the facts and vegetarian recipes that help put health and compassion on the menu.

Not only is a vegetarian diet the healthiest option, it is also the most compassionate one. On today's factory farms, cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals are crammed by the thousands into small, filthy sheds and feedlots. These animals will never run, play, root in the soil, feel the warmth of the sun on their backs, or build nests. They are deprived of everything that is natural and important to them. They won't even breathe fresh air until the day that they are loaded onto trucks bound for the slaughterhouse—one more hell-on-Earth experience before they die.

Says Forrest Whitaker, "Life is full of choices, and many years ago, I chose to become a vegetarian." He adds that "it was one of the best choices I've ever made."

Follow the lead of Whitaker, Salley, and other African-American vegetarians—such as Russell Simmons, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, and André 3000—by taking PETA's Pledge to Be Veg for 30 Days. We'll send you an e-mail with our top tips on the best places to eat out and our favorite animal-friendly recipes. Feel the meat-free difference today!