Does McCruelty Specifically Target African-Americans? June 4, 2009

African-American leaders and musicians have long played a major role in speaking out against cruelty to animals. Over the years, leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton, vegan hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and even Wu-Tang Clan legend Masta Killa have all taken a strong stand against animal abuse.

One of the reasons many community leaders are so upset though, is that cruel companies like McDonald's and KFC frequently target the Black audience with intense marketing campaigns—particularly people in high school or college.

Well, African-American students are tired of being targeted. In fact, peta2 Outreach Coordinator Heather Norwood recently wrote an opinion piece on the topic, which has run in several student newspapers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Heather gathering petition signatures against McCruelty

"Whether it is sponsoring a battle of the bands or a football halftime show, [McDonald's] uses its branding power to sell a product that it knows consumers would be hesitant to buy if they looked behind the scenes. As an African-American, it is frustrating for me to see our community exploited by a company that doesn't even have the decency to reduce the suffering of animals killed for its McNuggets.

...

McDonald's is a big company, but it relies heavily on the financial support of communities like ours. Let's send a strong message that unless McDonald's listens to animal protection organizations such as peta2 and makes some of the changes that are listed on McCruelty.com to reduce the suffering of the animals killed for its restaurants, we will take our money elsewhere."

—Ryan!

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