People are losing their minds over this new PETA ad – for all the wrong reasons

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) love to make a splash with controversial advertisements, and their latest one is no different. But it seems that viewers are taking the advertisement in the opposite direction of what PETA intended.

On PETA's Twitter, the animal rights advocacy group posted a graphic asking dog owners to not use prong collars on their pets as they are painful and dangerous.

To solidify their point, the advertisement includes a rendering of a human wearing a prong collar attached to a leash as a dog angrily drags them.

"What if the roles were reversed? Prong collars are painful & dangerous," the on-screen text reads.

The image was meant to generate empathy and sadness amongst viewers, however, people couldn't help but find the image slightly sexual. Especially given past advertisements have been blatantly sexual in nature.

"People are going to make this a sex thing," A Twitter user said. And that they did.

"They got a FREAK on their graphic design team," Bobby said on Twitter.

PETA and Bobby's replies were filled with people re-posting previous PETA advertisements that are sexual in nature. One Twitter user reposted a video from PETA that encouraged people to go vegan by sticking their fingers in various fruits or vegetables, "PETA IS TOO HORNY" the user wrote.

Another Twitter user reposted a video from PETA that insinuated those who eat vegan can last longer in the bedroom.

The animal-right advocacy group often gets backlash for their standout marketing techniques. One Twitter user reminded people of the anti-dairy advertisement that featured a person sucking on a cow's udder that caused a stir on social media.

Sign up for our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

But perhaps the biggest reason people found PETA's dog collar graphic strange was because of the human-like dog that seemed reminiscent of furries.

Furries are people who dress up in animal costumes but continue to have human-like characteristics. The subculture is heavily associated with sex.

PETA's anti-prong collar message turned into a field day of sex and furry jokes. So perhaps the organization achieved their goal to spread the word.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.