In September 2008, PETA sent a letter to Ben and Jerry's with a simple request: Start making ice cream with milk from humans instead of cows. "The breast is best!" it read. The gross-out scheme intended, PETA said, to assuage cows' suffering and boost human health was inspired by reports that a Swiss restaurateur planned to start making the same substitution in his food. Not surprisingly, it never caught on. PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk later admitted to TIME that it was a stunt designed to draw attention to the fate of cows forcibly impregnated so they will lactate and calves who face being shipped to inhumane veal farms. "It isn't very feasible at all," she said. "But it was great fun to suggest it."
Outrageous PETA Stunts
In a new PETA ad out this month, Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez and his wife bare it all in the name of animal awareness. To mark the latest in a long line of eye-opening publicity campaigns, TIME takes a look at 10 of the organization's most shocking stunts