Jimmy's Seafood Responds To PETA With Its Own Billboard; 'SteaMEd Crabs. Here To Stay'
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Marylanders were going crabby over a PETA billboard in Baltimore that urged them to stop eating crabs, but Jimmy's Seafood has fired back with their own billboard.
The billboard from Jimmy's reads: "SteaMEd crabs. Here to stay. Get Famous."
Jimmy's has also taken on PETA on social media, changing the groups acronym to mean "People Eating Tasty Animal."
???? Found some photos of @peta - People Eating Tasty Animals - and one ????, too! pic.twitter.com/ME0auHQ6qT
— Jimmy's Famous Seafood (@JimmysSeafood) August 25, 2018
"We had to stick up for ourselves, our industry was under attack and we weren't going to take that lying down," said owner John Minadakis.
Minadakis said after a discussion with his brother, the billboard idea was born.
"We said we gotta respond, we gotta get our crab up there and show them what a real Maryland crab looks like," Minadakis said.
PETA responded to the second billboard from Jimmy's. PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman:
"No compassionate person would boil an animal alive. Just like humans, crabs feel pain and experience fear, have unique personalities and value their own lives, but a PETA investigation has shown that they endure agonizing deaths in order to be used for dinner- so if PETA's billboard encouraged even one Baltimorean to view these complex crustaceans as individuals and go vegan, then it worked like a charm in our mind."
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put up their billboard near the Inner Harbor.
PETA Puts Up Billboard Urging Marylanders To Stop Eating Crabs
On the billboard, it has a picture of a crab, along with the caption, "I'm ME, Not MEAT." The billboard will be in place for the Baltimore Seafood Festival on September 15.
Minadakis said their billboard will remain up until then too.
Though it's unlikely these two will come to the table together, Jimmy's is extending some level of gratitude to their opponents.
"We've sold more crabs than we have in a very long time and I guess I do owe PETA a little thank you for that," Minadakis said.
Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook