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‘Your Thighs On Cheese’ billboards like the one above are causing a commotion in upstate New York, where they’ve been posted along the highway in a smear campaign against dairy. Put out by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a vegan advocacy group, the posters are their latest hook for what’s basically vegan propaganda: Spreading the message that meat and dairy will make you fat… and being vegan will make you thin.
The group is posting billboards in upstate New York partly as an attack on Albany’s use of cheese in public school meals. They believe dairy-laden meals are contributing to the obesity epidemic, which is particularly pronounced in Albany, where nearly 63% of adults are either overweight or obese.
PCRM nutritionist Susan Levin wrote in a statement:
Cheese is loaded with fat, cholesterol, sodium—and calories. It ought to come with a warning label so consumers understand the health risk.
In large part, she’s right about the nutrition value of cheese: It’s typically high in fat, cholesterol, and calories. But PCRM’s message seems borderline irresponsible to me—and not because I’m a staunch supporter of dairy. In fact, I eat minimal amounts of cheese and butter, and hardly touch milk or yogurt…but without providing clear information about how to eat a balanced diet for weight loss, the posters are just contributing more confusion about food and nutrition than positive advice.
Consuming dairy may not be the best thing for weight control or health, but it’s far from the sole reason that Americans have become so obese: Sugary drinks, processed carbs, a lack of vegetables and high-quality protein, poor portion control and lack of physical activity are probably the biggest contributing factors to our country’s problem with obesity. Although PCRM’s intentions are no doubt good, this campaign in particular seems borderline irresponsible, if you ask me.
Briana, thanks for this post!
To all the commenters who brought up vegan cheese, I’d just reiterate that a lot of vegans don’t eat a lot of vegan cheese. Many of us are strictly whole foods eaters, or at least 99% of the time.
The issue here, as Briana said, is that the ads are misleading. They suggest direct causation rather than correlation, and beyond that, they’re offensive, silly, embarrassing to vegans. The American public is already skeptical of vegans and what we stand for; ads like this confirm all of the worst stereotypes.
Really? you are kidding right?
THAT Billboard IS STUPID!! SENDING WRONG MESSAGE >>>>.
I hate anything that involves body shaming and labeling people gross to make a point. It won’t help overweight people; it will depress them. (I know.) Vegans can be overweight due to a number of factors, some of which are beyond their control, just like anyone else. Furthermore, anyone who’s ever eaten an entire pint of coconut milk ice “cream” in one sitting knows that a vegan diet can also be fattening and fraught with bad decisions. It’s a matter of knowledge and moderation, not shame and propaganda.
I totally support the PCRM for their good work!
Stop being in denial, animal products, including cheese is BAD for you & makes you FAT! They’re sending a good message out, and people are complaining because it “hurts their feelings?” Grow up & take responsibility, stop being a whiny little baby just because you CAN’T handle the truth! Do yourself a favor & open your eyes! :)
None of what you claim is remotely true, and is further evidence of the indoctrinating propaganda espoused by this anti-science front for PETA.
Well, I am 54, female dairy farmer /bus driver / gardener/ hunter/mom/ grandma, and am perfect weight for my height Drink raw milk and eat cheese by the pound
If you are active you stay fit! I do not drink Beer! Those billboards look like the people I see strolling out of the markets with their daily case of brew… ha!
I do not try to force my ideals on others, that is just so annoying. And another way to stay healthy is to avoid physicians.
Bah, place Courtney Thorne- Smith up there with the “Your Thighs on Cheese” slogan. Yay for Atkins! :oD
Well, you can’t send a complete message in a billboard. Most people eat cheese because they ALWAYS eaten cheese, and because everyone else eats it. Maybe a billboard like this will cause a few people to go home, jump on Google, and find all the eye-opening facts about dairy. That’s where it started for me. I’ve been vegan for five years. No regrets and no vegan cheese.
Your facts found through a five minute Google search are in actuality little more than long-debunked propaganda espoused by Animal Rights fronts.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-china-study-revisited/
Vegans are just angry they stuck eating vegan cheese. Have you ever tasted that crap? I think crap would actually taste better.
Plus a lot of vegan cheeses contain palm oil, sometimes vegetable or safflower oil & many other strangely named ingredients which aren’t exactly great for you either. Granted there’s no animal products in it but that still doesn’t mean it’s great.
The ingredients from a vegan shredded cheese from Daiya:
Mozzarella flavor ingredients: Filtered water, tapioca and/or arrowroot flour, non-GMO expeller pressed canola oil and/or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, vegan natural flavors, inactive yeast, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, citric acid, titanium dioxide (naturally occurring mineral)
“Real” cheese (I’m not talking about Cheez Whiz or any other processed cheese) contains fewer & more natural ingredients than fake vegan cheese.
Ha!
OK, two things: Totally true, vegan cheese is super processed and should NOT be marketed as a health food (if cheese should come with a health warning, then vegan cheese should, too).
BUT – Daiya is so good! I don’t eat cheese b/c I just feel better when I stay away from dairy, and Daiya is my go-to when I really want a quesadilla or something. But yeah… just because it’s vegan doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Daiya is just as much a junk food as anything with real cheese.
I’ve been vegan for 3 years and have no desire to eat cheese, vegan or otherwise. My vegan boyfriend, on the other hand, eats daiya like there’s no freaking tomorrow.
Seriously, it’s not that big a deal to not eat cheese. It’s just food.
I think shit like this is necessary if the government keeps running campaigns telling people to drink more milk. There’s no reason to include dairy as part of a healthy diet.
Crystal, the assertion (which I’m reluctant to call a fact) that dairy doesn’t need to be included in a healthy diet doesn’t mean that it can’t be part of a healthy diet, which is what the billboards seem to be disputing.
You assume most vegans eat vegan cheese. Some do, some don’t. This still has nothing to do with the fact that cheese and all dairy is mostly fat. I think you are angry because you don’t want cheese to be bad for you, but guess what, it is.
“I think shit like this is necessary if the government keeps running campaigns telling people to drink more milk. There’s no reason to include dairy as part of a healthy diet.”
Except that milk is healthy.
There’s no reason to try and obfuscate this fact unless you have a cult-like agenda steeped in emotionalism and solipsistic ideals to further.
I think it takes a lot more than cheese to gain that kind of weight..
Best. Billboard. Ever.
Yuck. These billboards do not send the right message, and veganism should be about a lot more than just getting skinnier. And yeah, cheese isn’t an ideal food, but there are plenty that “should come with a warning.” Like everything at a drive-thru.
Yep. I don’t think what they’re saying about cheese is factually wrong, but they’re giving a really incomplete message that’s more about shaming fat people and people who eat a single food than helping people adopt a healthy lifestyle. I want to like PCRM, but I’m really not crazy about these ads.
“Yep. I don’t think what they’re saying about cheese is factually wrong”
But it is.
“I want to like PCRM”
WHY? They’re a phoney medical group that espouses dangerous anti-scientific propaganda to further via disinformation the Animal “Rights” agenda espoused by the PETA cult, for which they are a wholly connected -financially, departmentally and politically- front.