In cities across the U.S., PETA is decking the halls with a dash of compassion. This holiday season, we’re spreading good cheer in the form of a Christmas ad blitz-en to inspire empathy for all our fellow animals.

Our festive ads serve as reminders that no animal wants to be exploited and killed for their flesh, feathers, fur, or skin. Vegan living spares countless animals a lifetime of suffering. 

’Tis the Season for Kindness to Animals: See How PETA’s Holiday Ads Are Lighting Up U.S. Cities

In Des Moines, Iowa, a little calf delivers a can’t-miss message to the city’s bustling Merle Hay neighborhood, urging everyone to see her as a living, feeling individual—not an accessory or a piece of meat.

Cows naturally spend their time socializing with friends and family, but those raised for meat and leather typically spend their lives on crowded, filthy lots, where they have little opportunity to form meaningful bonds essential to their well-being. Workers in the meat and leather industries castrate, brand, string up, skin, and dismember cows, sometimes while they’re still conscious.

In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, PETA is lighting up the largest shopping district between Denver and Minneapolis with sky-high appeals from animals to leave only animal-friendly gifts under the tree this Christmas.

Just feet from The Empire Mall—home to dozens of retailers worthy of the naughty list, such as Coach and lululemon, which sell skins and down—PETA’s digital billboard reminds shoppers that animals are living, feeling beings, not merchandise.

Buying wool, leather, or anything else made from animals supports the violent abuse of sentient beings in these industries. PETA entity investigations into more than 100 wool suppliers have exposed that shearers beat sheep, cut their skin to shreds, and hastily sew them back up—without painkillers. At down factories, workers hang ducks and geese upside down, drag them through electrified water, and stab them in the throat. Meat industry workers pack chickens densely on top of one another in filthy cages, where they often die after their legs break under the strain of their own weight. And in the reptile-skins industry, workers hack apart lizards with machetes while they’re still conscious.

Travelers coming to and from the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for their holiday trips are reminded that cruelty doesn’t fly. Plastered on Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare vehicles, PETA’s thought-provoking ads challenge consumers to think about who suffers for luggage made from leather.

Because animals’ skin is one of the most profitable coproducts of the meat industry, purchasing leather directly contributes to the slaughter of countless animals. Worldwide, the meat and leather industries kill more than a billion cows, sheep, and other animals for their skins every year.

Along the Long Island Expressway, jam-packed with Manhattan-bound tourists, residents, and holiday shoppers, PETA’s highway billboard shows the loving bond between a mother cow and her precious calf—a reminder that these gentle giants have their own lives and families, just like we do.

At Newark Penn Station in New Jersey, one of the busiest train stations in the U.S., all eyes are on PETA’s “I’m Me, Not Meat” ads. Every year, the meat and fishing industries kill billions of animals, including fish, turkeys, cows, chickens, and pigs, for their flesh. Every individual who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals per year.

In Columbus, Ohio, known as one of the best towns for Christmas shopping, PETA’s bike share ads peddle a plea to let our fellow animals live in peace.

In Trenton, New Jersey, and Tucson, Arizona, PETA’s ads illustrate the love that mothers of all species have for their babies. Mother cows are nurturing and fiercely protective of their young, but the dairy industry denies them this important bond. There are countless reports of mother cows frantically crying out for their babies for several days after workers tore their babies away from them.

PETA’s heartwarming Christmas special tells the touching story of Toby the turkey, who spends the holidays with his loving family—not being sent to a slaughterhouse. The festive ad, which is airing on local TV stations across the U.S., encourages viewers to leave turkeys in peace, not in pieces.

Give the Gift of Empathy by Going Vegan

This holiday season—and all year round—show kindness and compassion to all living, feeling beings by going vegan and only wearing animal-free clothing. Check out PETA’s exciting selection of vegan holiday gifts, and order our free vegan starter kit to make the compassionate switch today: