KFC boots Jason Alexander for ruffling feathers

From the IMDB

It's short, and there's no direct link to it, so:

Former Seinfeld star Jason Alexander has been dropped as the face of fast-food giants KFC after urging them to reform their ways. The actor, who has appeared in commercials for the company, asked KRC to improve the way it treats its chickens - after being approached by animal rights group People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA). Now his contract has not been renewed by the firm - and Peta are convinced it's because of his campaign. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk explains, "After we showed him the horrible conditions under which KFC raised and kills its chickens, Jason was horrified. He told us he wanted to feel good about whatever company he was promoting and he was putting pressure on KFC to make changes. He told us, and this is a quote, 'I am your ally'. KFC couldn't be happy with that."

This was supposed to be the summer of George!

Oh thats rich. I cant figure out who to laugh at the most. KFC for firing him because he likes chickens, PETA for worrying about chickens that are raised so that we can kill them, and Jason for listening to PETA, then getting fired over it.

Speaking as a non-vegetarian, there''s no good reason to mistreat an animal while its alive, despite its likelihood to end up in a deep fryer later down the line. I''m not a PeTA supporter in general, because like most finatical groups they''re often just far too off base. However, I don''t think there''s any good reason to let something live for a few months in a space the size of a shoebox, often with broken limbs and covered in the sh*t of the chicken living just above it. Just because we''re going to eat it later, doesn''t mean it has to have a life entirely of pain.

Hey, we''re all going to die. So what''s the difference if we break both your legs now?

As for George, he stuck up for his convictions in the face of losing wealth. I say good for him.

Well, I guess I should clarify, Im not really against treating animals right or anything. I agree its a bad thing to do. But PETA approached Jason specifically to horrify him. They werent like, ""Hey these animals are being treated poorly, lets talk to KFC."" they went after Jason Alexander. They got worked up, and therefore got him worked up, over something that is bad, but was actually being used to further thier goals. And he got fired for it! PETA was being cunniving, Jason fell for it and KFC actually fired him over it. The whole thing just seems comedic to me.

Yes its a bad thing to treat animals like that, but if Jason Alexander had no idea chickens were raised that way, why did he take the job? Its like working for the mafia and then some cops want to use you as a patsy, so they say ""You know the mafia kills people, right?"" and you reply ""HOLY sh*t! WHERES MY WIRE?""

That makes more sense to me. On the other hand, I''d argue that the only way you''re going to win against a company like KFC these days is to do so in the court of public opinion. When consumers relate to Alexander as the KFC guy, to hear him turn around and ask KFC to change its practices is probably a lot more effective than asking congress or a court. The media is a more even playing field in this respect.

As for Alexander, I''m still with him on this one. A lot of people ... most people have pretty naive conceptions of what the poultry and beef industry are like.

You''re right, though. It''s all politics and thus in some significant way comedic. The only real innocents here are the livestock, and in their conditions I do have sympathy. No one should be surprised though, what with my bleeding (maybe we should call it hemorhagging) heart.

I would have to agree with you, Elysium.

I just got done reading Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, and there was a lot of discussion about this kind of mistreatment and how crappy the human race is in general. Sometimes it astounds me how far removed from the food chain we all are.

Can''t say I''ll miss the Jason Alexander/KFC commercials though... I couldn''t stand them.

Almost a century after The Jungle was published and yet next to nothing has changed. Shameful.

well, some things have changed. I dont see many 12 yr olds working in meat packing plants anymore............

Most people dont want to know.

Jason Alexander was atleast open to approach by PETA. For any good work they do, the zealotry is far worse.

We dont need to have PETA. People just need to be human. Human''s respect life.

Except for bugs, living things should not be placed under artificially induced cruelty or vileness.

"Rat Boy" wrote:

Almost a century after The Jungle was published and yet next to nothing has changed. Shameful.

Did you read the book?

"fangblackbone" wrote:

Except for bugs, living things should not be placed under artificially induced cruelty or vileness.

You should probably expand bugs to ""bugs or snakes, maybe spiders too"". Usually this includes mammals and reptiles, anything that can be considered cute

Like I said, I dont think we should treat animals unnessicarily cruel either, for our sake as much as thiers, I just think sometimes it gets pretty subjective. ""Treat all animals with kindness except for those that are scary and ugly!""

I always liked this quote from Upton Sinclair:

I aimed at the public''s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach
Did you read the book?

You may want to clue us in as to what the point of the book was that Rat Boy may have missed. Otherwise, your comment is nothing more than calling him an idiot. We both are experienced enough in posting at this site to know this is something to be refrained.

Pyro, I know! That little blurb ultimately weakens my argument and the argument for animal ""rights"" in general. Where do we draw the line? We always get a bit hypocritical when we make blanket statements only to be followed by personal caveats.

It is a really interesting human dilemna. Respect anything that is aesthetically pleasing and ignore the repugnant. A universal truth if there are such things.

Bah...the entire fast food industry sucks... Who would ever eat that crap anyway?

Go to Quizno''s at least there the food tastes good..

I once had a bite of someone''s KFC sandwich at work it was god awful..disgusting.

It brings me no greater joy to read about McDonald''s falling profits..sure they employee thousands...but seriously...how much hardship would it be for them to simply serve better food?

Even the original creator of McDonalds never envisioned McDonalds to be selling the same crap for 30+ years..

"fangblackbone" wrote:

That little blurb ultimately weakens my argument and the argument for animal ""rights"" in general. Where do we draw the line? We always get a bit hypocritical when we make blanket statements only to be followed by personal caveats.

It is a really interesting human dilemna. Respect anything that is aesthetically pleasing and ignore the repugnant. A universal truth if there are such things.

This is a topic that provides me with constant amazement and amusement. A *friend* of mine runs a little site (only click if you want) that approaches the arguement from a different angle. Nevertheless, it''s interesting to see how people who oppose react to the premise -- often with anger and nervous laughter.

The point is, people sympathize with ""cute"" animals much easier than a snake or a bat because it''s easier to personify the ""cute"" animal -- they see themselves in that animal and take its situation personally. Totally emotional, totally illogical -- but everyone does it. I have no desire to keep a dung beetle as a pet.

"" ""Treat all animals with kindness except for those that are scary and ugly!""""

Even Rat Boy?!

Just kidding! Just kidding!

"Mex" wrote:

"" ""Treat all animals with kindness except for those that are scary and ugly!""""

Even Rat Boy?!

Are you saying hes not scary and ugly?

uh, i didn''t post this... i didn''t mean to bump it or anything...

I do sympathize with the condition of any animal used for food. As a Jew who doesn''t keep Kosher (which calls for the proper treatment and ''processing'' of animals into food) I also understand that this is a long time argument.

However, paying an extra $5 for a bucket of KFC, so that the poultry can live in air-conditioned Chicken Condos, isn''t going to work for me.

Its weird, I can (and do) feel bad about some of this stuff, but I''m pleased to be at the top of the food chain. I''ve seen nature shows where animals live very badly and face a disgusting and what has to be, very painful deaths. And thats just nature.

On a slightly diffrent topic but still related, a comedian once said: ""If strapping a monkey to a car battery is going to somehow help cure cancer, I got two things to say: The Black clip is positive, and the red clip is negative.""