Ooh Media to allow controversial anti-horse racing billboard despite sponsoring races itself

I am thrilled to see an ad that finally uncovers the gritty underbelly of the racing industry. Well done!

Obviously Ooh! won’t let personal views stand in the way of revenue, however accompanying billboards with their logo is essentially endorsing the content.

Every time someone criticised horse racing I kill a horse.

“In his statement yesterday Racing Victoria’s Saundry said: “To put a dead animal, be it a horse, a dog or a cat, on a billboard is highly inappropriate and distasteful.”

I would suggest that the thousands of racehorses KILLED each year because they arent fast enough is slightly more “distasteful”

For most parts (and I am sure there are exceptions) race horses are very well looked after (particularly the top ones.) All the evidence suggests that they actually enjoy running and jumping – as they do in the wild. Horse racing is one of the biggest sports in this country and to suggest (as the ad does) that most Australians would condone cruelty to the animals is a gross untruth. Are some horses euthanized once they’re no longer of use to the industry? Very much so. As are 1000s of cats, dogs etc each week when they’re no longer of use. I think these sorts of ads create an hysteria that dabbles with the truth.

Yes it is distasteful, it’s distasteful the way horses are treated for our amusement. People would rather walk around with their head in the sand so they can drink champaign and have fun. See also pigs, no one wants to know how badly they are treated because bacon is tasty! Humans are horrible!

Very happy to see that common sense has prevailed and freedom of speech is being allowed. As mentioned in the article, the industry killed the horse, not the group publicising it. Until the racing industry cleans itself up, it will be its own worst enemy.

I used to enjoy the races until the day a very fine horse (at one of the top racing events in the country) broke its leg and in clear and obvious distress and with a horrific injury tried to gallop on. Eventually the horse was stopped, screens came out, a truck backed up behind the screens and when the screens were removed the horse wasn’t there anymore.

Was it worth it for the day’s entertainment? No, it bloody wasn’t. I haven’t been to the races since and won’t support the industry by gambling or watching on TV.

And as for race horses being treated well, some very basic research tells you that far from being euthanised, up to 20,000 aspiring or retired race horses are sold every year to become pet food. Euthanasia is a term reserved for killing animals who are sick or in distress when there are no other options. The horse with the broken leg I refer to above was euthanised (behind a screen, by a bullet or a bolt gun). But that isn’t the fate of most of them. We kill them because they don’t meet our needs for entertainment or gambling or fun or whatever you want to call it. Not euthanasia. Killing.

Its completely unnecessary.

Great work CPR! Horses including those subjected to jumps racing are only seen for their profit value. More needs to be done by Racing Victoria in an effort to truly protect the welfare of horses. Too many horses are dying simply for sport and entertainment purposes.

Methinks the racing industry protests too much – as usual. Their hysterics every time the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses does or says something that casts a spotlight on the industry’s dubious practices really say it all. They’re terrified at the growing number of people who believe that horses are not ours to use for entertainment, and are not disposable trash to be chucked the minute they no longer earn their owners/trainers/jockeys/Racing Victoria money. And they’re certainly not a convenient excuse to go out and get trolleyed at the track!

This isn’t a question on whether the subject matter is controversial – it’s a matter of whether or not standards have been breached. Who here, amongst all us media minds, can black and white argue that this is illegal?

Its a well known fact among Australian farmers that inferior racehorses are slaughtered and sold to butchers as mortadella.

Well done to oOh! for keeping this up.

PS – Will you be visiting your local deli any time soon?

So hang on, a animal rights group just spent tens of thousands of dollars to raise awareness about the plight of dozens of horses a year? Why didn’t they just buy the themselves considering the number is so very very small? How ridiculous.

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However, Ward Young, a spokesman for The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, told Mumbrella the aim of the billboard is to “raise awareness about what currently happens to racehorses in a number of different fashions”.

“There are the dozens of horses sent to slaughter every year because the racing industry doesn’t have a retirement plan for them. That’s one of the key goals we want to raise awareness about and get racegoers and punters to demand animal welfare changes within the racing industry,” he added.

I find every racing industry billboard advertising The Melbourne Cup, deeply offensive.

It is wonderful to see a billboard that fianlly tells the truth about the racing industry.

Well done, CPR. Thank you for bringing this unscrupulous enterprise to the awareness of the community. Using sentient beings for commercial profit is odious to me. As ethologists (scientists who study animals in their natural habitats) say from their own research and studies, “animals have lives that matter to them”. They say that animals have their own ‘telos’, ie. purpose in life, which therefore follows that their purpose is not to serve humans. But we have made the arrogant assumption that animals are ours to use, abuse, and exploit. This is just another manifestation of the offensive: ‘might makes right’, propaganda.

Furthermore, although these horses are treated well, it is PRIMARILY for the sake of profit. I’m sure there would be some people in the racing industry who do love their horses, but in the end, they are a means to an end.

Again, well done, CPR.

I just drove over the Bolte Bridge in Melbourne where this billboard used to be and it is now blank. Not sure whether that’s because Ooh! was under pressure – that billboard was even criticised by the Lord Mayor this morning on 3AW – or for other reasons.

Interesting that Ooh! had the ‘dead horse’ billboard on one side, and APN the other side with multiple Spring Racing Carnival billboards.

Strictly from a communications perspective I’m not sure this will impact anyones behaviour much. Confronting peoples cognitive dissonance or intention-action gap without offering a resolution is a recipe for inaction. Yeah it’s bad but la la la I’m not listening. Prevalence.

Pipe-down fun police. You can all stay at your desk on the afternoon of the first Tuesday in November.

Gai…happy to. Will wear the ‘fun police’ badge with pride, while working at my desk like I do every Tuesday. At least I know my actions won’t contribute to the unnecessary deaths of thousands of horses every year.

Well done CPR! Caring people bringing attention to the truth behind the glamour advertised in the racing industry. A broken leg, a bullet to the head. If you don’t like the billboard, bad luck. You can’t handle the truth! Or maybe you just don t care.

Brilliant work Ooh and CPR!! So happy racing’s true colors are finally being exposed.