PETA Asks Gamers To Be Kind To Zerglings

[Andy Chalk]

PETA Asks Gamers To Be Kind To Zerglings

With StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm about to launch, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals would like to remind everyone that Zerglings have feelings, too.

PETA will be attending tonight's launch event for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm in Irvine, California, but in a slightly different guise than we've come to know it. In honor of the long-awaited StarCraft release, the group is renaming itself "Terrans for the Ethical Treatment of Zerglings" for the night and will hand out pamphlets entitled Zerglings Have Feelings, Too.

"When playing StarCraft, I had noticed how the Zerg were treated more like animals than like other people. I couldn't help but wonder if there would be an analog to PETA in the world of StarCraft," PETA online marketing strategist Joel Bartlett wrote. Thus was born the idea for TETZ, and tonight's appearance at the StarCraft launch.

"Remember, while Zerglings are not real, there are many equally 'strange' and exotic animals we share this planet with who deserve our empathy. Just because crocodiles and snakes look alien to us, that doesn't make it OK to skin them alive for a handbag, shoes, or a belt," Bartlett wrote. "And if we had to share our world with the Zerg in reality, I'd like to think that we'd make an effort to understand and respect them rather than sending out the battlecruisers - because the alternative to having empathy for other beings is about as grim as it gets."

Setting aside the hard-to-avoid dislike for PETA's more extreme behavior, you have to admit this is a pretty clever campaign. It raises awareness without casting judgment and ties in smartly with what is bound to be one of the year's biggest game releases. Yes, PETA does some objectionable (and outright indefensible) things, but this is a smart and funny way of getting its message out - even if the idea of making nice with the Zerg makes about as much sense as sitting down for tea with a rabid grizzly bear.

Source: PETA [http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2013/03/11/peta-starcraft-zerglings-have-feelings-too.aspx]


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[LysanderNemoinis]

You know, if we shared reality with the StarCraft universe, forget the Zerg, my first objective would be to send a nuke to PETA headquarters. Not for this, mind you, but for ever other thing they do. And I'd be sure to wrap the missile in fur, just to piss them off before they go boom. ^_^

 

[FEichinger]

Now this I certainly didn't expect.

I mean, that came totally out of nowhere.

 

[CharrHearted]

Pretty much sums up my reaction to this piece of information.

Aaah Peta, getting more and more dumber one step at a time... now if you'll excuse me, i'm going to have me some fried Zerglings. :3

 

[PunkRex]

As a animal lover I do hate PETA for what they do but this... is kinda cute... silly, but cute.

 

[CatR]

PETA can be best summarized as trying to paint a species that butchers other living organisms by the millions as kind.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Because planet devouring insect monsters are people too ...

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

I actually like this. It doesn't come off as awful as they usually do when I see news about them. It is a fairly clever campaign, and the quote doesn't make them sound dumb >_>

 

[Jodan]

yes they do have feelings mostly hunger and homicidal rage

but really what?

now correct me if im worng but didnt the zerg go around genetically engineering species to serve the zerg as slaves.
Ainsi we should be helping to liberate them and returning them to their natural habitat.
or putting them out of their misery as humanley as possiable, which is obviously via space marine.

 

[cahtush]

Oh you mean the Zerg that relies on massacring other species just so that they can take their DNA and turn them into mindless beasts of war?
If anything they should fight for the defenceless critters cought in the crossfire.
Save the Panda-Bear-Guys!

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

So these are the people we send out in front of the troops when the Zerg Overminds attack us... Let them hug their way thru the creep and nuzzle some hydralisks right before they get their faces melted off.

 

[wooty]

I know this is probably just a joke after the AC4 "whale wail", but since when did PETA feature so prominantly in game discussions and news?

Shouldn't they be throwing paint over celebrities and bankers instead?

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Yeah, right.

Save the Zerglings, round them up, let PETA come and get them... and euthanize them as soon as they got all the free attention and monies they came for.

 

[JenSeven]

*Headdesk*
*Headdesk again*
*Headdesk again for good measure*

Thanks PETA, I now have a headache and there is a dent in my nice wooden desk.

Should I send them the bill?

 

[Worgen]

Ouch, the stupid, it hurts me.

 

[Zipa]

What next PETA tells people to hug a Tyranid?

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

TETZ?

*snickers*

Immaturity aside, as clever as it is, I don't think they understand what the Zerg do. I mean, hugs and cuddles aren't gonna stop them from murdering the hell out of you.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Oh, so Hydralisks are not good enough for ya, huh?! What about these cute and hugable Ultralisks? No love either?!

 

[The White Hunter]

Oooh look PETA! Hmm... Nope, don't care what they've got to say about anything really.