Free Republic

A leading animal-rights group has lost its court fight to pull the California milk industry's popular "Happy Cows" television spots over accusations of false advertising. The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to review an appeal brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which sued to stop the national advertising campaign featuring the talking, laid-back cows and their tag line, "Great Cheese Comes From Happy Cows. Happy Cows Come From California."

California's "Happy Cows" ads might be fairly cheesy, but that doesn't mean the state can be sued over them. On Tuesday, San Francisco's 1st District Court of Appeal declared the California Milk Producers Advisory Board exempt from the state's false advertising laws, preventing People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Inc. from suing the agency over its popular campaign showing blissful bovines in a pastoral paradise. PETA, based in Norfolk, Va., had claimed that the ads were "explicitly and implicitly untrue, deceptive and misleading" -- that California cows actually lead harsh lives in grubby fields before being slaughtered. In their...

<p>A lawsuit charging that California cows aren't as happy as an ad campaign implies has been thrown out by a superior court judge.</p> <p>People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had filed a lawsuit accusing the San Francisco-based California Milk Advisory Board, which is behind the "Happy Cows" ad campaign, of false advertising.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Trade Commission has decided not to take action against a television advertising campaign for California cheese that depicts dairy cows living in the Golden State's green pastures.</p> <p>People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had asked the FTC to order an end to the ads, claiming most California dairy cows live in filthy, grassless lots where they are forced to give too much milk and separated from their calves too soon.</p>

Published: Sunday, May 5, 2002 PETA's cow ad protest just censorship Chris WeinkopfEditorial Writer "This is a different situation than, say, elves baking cookies in trees," says Matthew Penzer, counsel for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, about his group's efforts to ban the California Milk Advisory Board's "Happy Cows" campaign. After all, everyone knows that there's no such thing as elves, and even if there were, they certainly wouldn't bake. Talking cows, on the other hand, especially talking cows that sing songs from the "Brady Bunch" and take advantage of earthquakes to massage their hoofs -- well, that...