Wearing nothing but clear plastic wrap and next to the tagline "Relate to Who's on Your Plate—No One Wants to Be Treated Like a Piece of Meat," actor, model, and cover girl Alicia Mayer stars in a brand-new ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacific (PETA).
The stunning ad, shot by ace photographer Raymund Isaac, takes aim at the cruel meat industry. In the ad, Alicia appears against the cold steel backdrop of a butcher shop, complete with meat hooks.
Mayer—fresh off the role of Rhea on the Filipino-Malaysian soap opera Muli—gained widespread adoration for her part in the cast of the comedy show Lagot Ka ... Isusumbong Kita and for her role as Julianna in the soap opera Saang Sulok ng Langit.
She also served as one of the hosts of Eat Bulaga, the longest-running noontime variety show in Philippine TV history, and had graced the cover of FHM magazine.
Mayer and PETA want Filipinos to know that all animals—not just humans—are made of flesh, blood, and bone; that humans and other animals have the same senses and range of emotions; and that eating meat is eating a corpse. Billions of animals are abused and violently killed to support consumers' taste for flesh.
On today's factory farms, cows are routinely branded, dehorned, and castrated without any painkillers. Pigs are castrated, and their tails and teeth are cut or broken off—also without painkillers. Chickens are drugged and bred to grow so rapidly that they become crippled under the weight of their massive upper bodies. Their throats are cut while they are still conscious, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks.
"I'm challenging Filipinos to really think about what 'meat' is," says Mayer. "Eating flesh means eating the corpse of a tortured animal who did not want to die. I'm encouraging kind consumers to give vegetarianism a try."