Controversial animal rights organization PETA has sparked a social media backlash after shocking users by posting a grizzly photo of a dissected cat carcass and connecting it with the ‘realistic cake’ meme.
The image posted by the US-based organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Twitter contained a close-up photograph of a cat’s head being cut open during a dissection. The graphic picture was accompanied by the words “Not cake,” plus a broken-heart emoji and the hashtag #CutOutDissection.
In a follow-up tweet, the group shared the same image, writing “If you find this photo offensive, help PETA,” and posted a link to its campaign against the breeding and slaughtering of animals for classroom dissection.
PETA’s message backfired instantly, with many blasting the organization for posting such a deeply unsettling and “disgusting” image without any warning. Shocked commenters warned other users against clicking on PETA’s trending tag, and even recommended blocking the group for posting upsetting content.
Some were also revolted by PETA using the popular cake meme – a recent trend of people posting pictures of cake that look like real objects – in connection to an actual gory image. “Do you think this s**t is a joke???” one person wrote.
Twitter warriors accused PETA of going too far and posting the graphic photo “only for shock factor and to grab attention.” Others pointed out that such gory photos are genuinely traumatizing and only hurt the group’s cause.
“It is an upsetting, triggering method of flexing moral superiority, like showing porn to children to make them go ‘ew, gross,’” one person wrote.
In response to PETA’s stunt, people started posting pictures of their own cats, alive and well.
have photos of my cats. sorry peta is a sh*thole:( pic.twitter.com/lmTpDdV39X
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