For an organisation that's so passionate about chicks, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a shaky reputation with women.
On Monday the high-profile animal rights organisation held a demonstration out the front of Sydney's George Street KFC, involving three young women wearing nothing but lacy knickers and nipple tape in a cage with the sign "Chicks Agree: Boycott KFC".
PETA has also invited a former Big Brother housemate, Brigitte Stavaruk, to strip for its campaign, said a report in The Daily Telegraph yesterday. PETA offered the job to her because of her "big assets" - including her big personality, of course.
This is the sophisticated publicity technique the organisation has been perfecting over the past decade, with scores of their campaigns using the female body to try to raise awareness about animal rights. Not in a John-and-Yoko, dimply-bottoms-out-for-peace kind of way, but in a "put a hot naked chick next to a product you're trying to sell" way.
Last year in the United States a semi-nude woman painted to look like a snake protested outside an exotic leather goods store in Florida, while in Washington, bikini-clad protesters sat in cages, holding egg-shaped signs that read, "Chicks Suffer for Eggs". Then there was their internet video campaign, which featured a young women addressing Congress about animal rights - while stripping.
Closer to home, the Australian pop star and actress Sophie Monk appeared naked, lying on a bed of chillies, encouraging people to "spice up your life - go vegetarian".
Unsurprisingly, they've had more impact raising the ire of progressive young women. More than one feminist blogger has asked why a pro-vegetarian organisation treats women like pieces of meat.
Whether or not you think the campaigns are sexist, they do raise a bigger question of whether this is really an effective way to get a message across to your audience.
Communicating any message to a highly media-savvy, cause-weary audience is a challenge that faces all groups wanting to effect social change. The ABC show The Gruen Transfer attests to the modern audience's knowingness and cynicism about publicity techniques. But the success of the show also demonstrates that most of us have a secret admiration for those advertisers or publicists who can really surprise us, and capture our imagination.
So, in this environment, it is hard to understand why PETA still uses the oldest, laziest and, many would argue, most sexist trick in the book. A feminist commentator, Ann Friedman, summarises the message behind these ads: "It's OK to buck the stereotype of real men eat red meat, because here are some naked ladies to reassure you that you're still a superhetero manly man!"
Indeed, the not-so-subtle message behind these ads is that animal rights are not just for those with hairy armpits and dreadlocks, but are sexy, fun and mainstream. Or it could just be, "Hey look over here! Boobies! And by the way, battery farming is bad!"
But it's the last part of that message that usually gets lost, as most people tend to focus on the first half. If it did work, every 14-year-old boy in Australia would be demanding tofu for dinner.
A straw poll on the meaning of Monday's PETA demonstration among friends at the pub threw up responses including "the Catholic church's treatment of women" and "an ad for a new line of lacy underwear". Attention was grabbed, but the message was lost.
It's always hard for activists to get the media attention they need without resorting to stunts. The five-day Climate Camp protest in Newcastle this week, targeting the biggest single issue facing the planet, only made the papers once there had been conflict with the cops.
In a society so obsessed with female youth and beauty, it's almost understandable that those wanting to communicate an urgent message would go for what's easy and cheap and proven to get the media's attention.
However, the point of activism and advertising is not just to get people to look; it's to encourage them to change their behaviour. And for that purpose, humour, creativity and God forbid, an appeal to our intelligence, are going to win every time. For the sake of chicks everywhere, let's hope PETA gets that message soon.
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