PETA Turns to the Stock Market

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (better known as PETA) now own a piece of at least 80 companies, including McDonald's and Kraft Foods. This animal rights group is known to have radical and provocative protests to gain much attention from media, companies and people. PETA has well known stunts like splashing paint on celebrities who wears furs or to have their members strip to protest against the cruelty of animals. PETA is also known to voice out against caging or animals. One recent example is when a SeaWorld trainer was killed by a Killer Whale. PETA stated that this is bound to occur as the Whales are frustrated and unhappy to be kept in captivity. PETA’s gimmicks and comments may be deemed as insensitive or too much for the layman, yet, they have gotten media coverage time and time again.

This makes it interesting as PETA is adopting a new approach (which seems to be more subtle than their usual stunts) to influence companies – purchasing of stocks and shares. Being a financial blogger, I am intrigued by this new effort as it strongly implies firms can be manipulated by people, or in this case interest groups, who are cash rich. This shows our financial sector is not a free market as what Adam Smith (the economist who believed in the invisible hand also known as capitalism) said it would be.

I believe this tactic is a brilliant (but not revolutionary) strategy for PETA to adopt. This is because PETA would be able to flex their financial muscles to ensure firms would abide to their wants. This is a smart move for PETA; although I am not certain if it would be good for us consumers. PETA believes this is a great move to as Senior PETA campaigner Ashley Byrne says buying stock gives PETA a new forum to present its ideas. She also says it's paying off. Ms Byrne says companies such as the Safeway grocery store chain and Ruby Tuesday restaurants have agreed to buy products from companies that practice more humane slaughter methods or supply cage-free eggs and pork.

Seems to me this is working in their favor. It would be interesting to look into this issue further as seldom have I seen interest groups pressurizing firms from the inside via stocks.