December 4, 2011
Actress Katherine Heigl has a new, racy campaign to promote the spay and neuter of pets. At least that’s what appears to be the mission of her “I hate balls” campaign, but it may take most people a while to understand that is her message, given it’s buried in the silliness of her purported macabre distaste for testicles. However, it’s the animal cruelty products her partner company promotes that breaks my heart and makes me ill. And through this partnership, Heigl sends a mixed message about her concern for animals.
This new campaign promotes spay and neutering of pets; sells products to raise money for the foundation she and her mother formed in memory of her deceased brother. Who loved animals. But where this project becomes all the more weird, and just wrong, is the company she has partnered with to sell products for her campaign. Heigl’s partner, David and Goliath, is a company that is self-described as: “We live by one mantra: “Live Stupid, Die Happy.” Just exactly what do we mean by that? It’s simple. We create ridiculously stupid stuff for people who refuse to take life too seriously.”
However, this mantra takes on a new meaning with some of the products that they sell. Products that depict animal cruelty. Sure, they’ll probably argue these products are a parody of “hello kitty” or just meant to be “fun” and that people who reject them are just taking life “too seriously.” But this is a company that sells products depicting animal cruelty in the form of a cat in a microwave, in a blender, tumbling inside a washing machine, on the grill of a car, being flushed down a toilet, in a toaster, etc. All with the tagline “Goodbye Kitty.” I made screenshots of several of these product photos and originally posted in this blog post. Then I deleted all but one. Then I deleted that one. Even just an cartoon depiction of a cat being cruelly tormented is not something I can post here. It’s just sickening that someone, that anyone finds that kind of product acceptable.
Animal cruelty is the result of a sick mind and often leads to cruelty to humans as well. Animal cruelty harms the innocent. Offensive. Repulsive. Horrifically wrong! And definitely not entertainment. What was Katherine Heigl thinking with this partnership?
Every fiber of our being should be adamantly opposed to any form of animal cruelty. It should never be considered fun. Or entertainment. Sometimes the American way of freedom of speech is the incubator for the worst of crimes. On Pawsitively Texas, we often see the best and worst of humanity. The worst in the form of extreme abuse and neglect of precious and innocent animals that were created with the divine destiny to love us. And the best; the true heroes that give everything they have to make life better and safe for animals. Celebrities have such a tremendous platform to raise awareness and lead change. So very sad when it veers off course. If you agree that these products are horrendously wrong and should be removed from this company’s product line, let Katherine Heigl’s foundation hear from you; click here to do so. With hope, she will agree and take a stand against animal cruelty also.
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There is no excuse for doing anything that depicts being cruel to animals. Animals are so loving & caring. It isn’t fair that they have to just accept the way people treat them. They are defenseless. How would you like to be treated like some of the animals are? It wouldn’t be funny then. You should be supporting being good & kind to animals NOT cruel to them/
You should be trying to get word out to be kind to animals. Animal cruelty is NOT ENTERTAINMENT.
Katherine, it is with utmost disappointment that you and your company find humor in horrific things done to animals…yes, i “get it” don’t take life seriously….but sometimes people go overboard and get carried away. you have the power to influence the world…i wish you would be more discerning in what you put out there as “funny”..Nothing is funny when it’s root is horrible things that have and will be done to animals…and funny? i don’t think so…
thank you
Katherine, Your brother would be horrified that you have aligned yourself and his foundation with the company David and Goliath. Animal cruelty, like domestic violence, child abuse and rape, is NOT a laughing matter. Please distance yourself and the Foundation from this company and urge it to discontinue these products. Animal abuse is no joke nor is it entertainment.
You apparently do not understand Dark Humor.You are no more supposed to take goodbye Kitty seriously than you are to believe that Ms.Heigl is attempting to take over the world in order to castrate all men.
In fact I find it absurd that since you take every thing at face value , the idea of castrating all of mankind for entertainment doesn’t seem to even worthy of mention. In which case I must ask:
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU !!!
Raymond, please re-read the first paragraph. I noted that in the first paragraph: “… that is her message, given it’s buried in the silliness of her purported macabre distaste for testicles.”
When you see as much animal cruelty up close as we do on Pawsitively Texas, there is simply nothing funny about animal cruelty no matter how it is presented. Calling it dark humor is just an excuse to look away and not stand for the innocent animals that fall prey to sick minds that harm them.
This is just ridiculous. Katherine’s campaign is to protect animals and save the lives of animals. Her animal foundation is all about rescuing abandoned animals from kill shelters, and helping them find loving homes. The argument that she support animal cruelty is ridiculous, and trying to support that by using t-shirts on a website she has almost nothing to do with is nit picky. Perhaps Katherine’s foundation didn’t even know about these shirts? There’s quite a lot of merchandise that company creates, I’m sure it’s hard to organize your own website and inspect every inch of another at the same time.
Instead of picking at silly things like this, why not focus on Katherine’s campaign and what she’s trying to achieve? Maybe support ‘I Hate Balls’ and help save the lives of animals, focus on that and not stupid t-shirts from a separate company.That would be much more proactive than making silly accusations.
Here is my reply to the site, hope it helps:
To whom it may concern,
Please reconsider your association with David and Goliath products. Their depiction of animal cruelty on products (i.e. Goodbye Kitty), and justifying it as “dark humor” and “not taking life seriously” is pathetic and wrong. To me, and many others, animal cruelty in any form should be taken seriously and not used for humor.
I applaude your efforts to spread the word on the benefits of spay and neuter programs, however I believe that more thought should be given to the types of companies that you align yourself with in order to spread that message. There are many humorous, positive and pro animal welfare companies that deserve all of our support.
As I previously stated, please reconsider your association with the David and Goliath company.
Sincerely,
Whitney, thank you. That is a very professional, informative, and kind letter you wrote.
Has anyone been able to send this message to Kathryn Heigl ?
I personally will nothing to do with the David and Goliath co.
To these people money is what talks.