A very simple answer to your question--yes. I would not be offended, but I object to PETA's tactics in trying to get their message out. There is absolutely no reason that their ads need to attempt to shock so much in this way, especially given how hypocritical this organization is. If PETA can keep the sex, blood, or other objectionable images from their ads, fine. So far, they haven't found a way to do this and I see no reason that their ads should be allowed on state property (i.e. tollbooths).

I am so sick of PETA employing exploitation of women in their effort to end exploitation of animals.

Most people in the Animal Rights community hate PETA and disagree with their activities. It is a shame that the AR community is seen as being one and the same with PETA.

Another cheap publicity stunt by the so-called People for the "Ethical" Treatment of Animals.
7 Things You Didn't Know About PETA

1) According to government documents, PETA employees have killed more than 19,200 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens since 1998. This behavior continues despite PETA’s moralizing about the “unethical” treatment of animals by farmers, scientists, restaurant owners, circuses, hunters, fishermen, zookeepers, and countless other Americans. PETA puts to death over 90 percent of the animals it accepts from members of the public who expect the group to make a reasonable attempt to find them adoptive homes. PETA holds absolutely no open-adoption shelter hours at its Norfolk, VA headquarters, choosing instead to spend part of its $32 million annual income on a contract with a crematory service to periodically empty hundreds of animal bodies from its large walk-in freezer.

2) PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk has described her group’s overall goal as “total animal liberation.” This means the complete abolition of meat, milk, cheese, eggs, honey, zoos, aquariums, circuses, wool, leather, fur, silk, hunting, fishing, and pet ownership. In a 2003 profile of Newkirk in The New Yorker, author Michael Specter wrote that Newkirk has had at least one seeing-eye dog taken away from its blind owner. PETA is also against all medical research that requires the use of animals, including research aimed at curing AIDS and cancer.

3) PETA has given tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals. This includes a 2001 donation of $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an FBI-certified “domestic terrorist” group responsible for dozens of firebombs and death threats. During the 1990s, PETA paid $70,200 to Rodney Coronado, an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) serial arsonist convicted of burning down a Michigan State University research laboratory. In his sentencing memorandum, a federal prosecutor implicated PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in that crime. PETA vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich has also told an animal rights convention that “blowing stuff up and smashing windows” is “a great way to bring about animal liberation,” adding, “Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it.”

4) PETA activists regularly target children as young as six years old with anti-meat and anti-milk propaganda, even waiting outside their schools to intercept them without notifying their parents. One piece of kid-targeted PETA literature tells small children: “Your Mommy Kills Animals!” PETA brags that its messages reach over 1.2 million minor children, including 30,000 kids between the ages of 6 and 12, all contacted by e-mail without parental supervision. One PETA vice president told the Fox News Channel’s audience: “Our campaigns are always geared towards children, and they always will be.”

5) PETA’s president has said that “even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we would be against it.” And PETA has repeatedly attacked research foundations like the March of Dimes, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the American Cancer Society, solely because they support animal-based research aimed at curing life-threatening diseases and birth defects. And PETA helped to start and manage a quasi-medical front group, the misnamed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, to attack medical research head-on.

6) PETA has compared Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust to farm animals and Jesus Christ to pigs. PETA’s religious campaigns include a website that claims—despite ample evidence to the contrary—that Jesus Christ was a vegetarian. PETA holds protests at houses of worship, even suing one church that tried to protect its members from Sunday-morning harassment. Its billboards taunt Christians with the message that hogs “died for their sins.” PETA insists, contrary to centuries of rabbinical teaching, that the Jewish ritual of kosher slaughter shouldn’t be allowed. And its infamous “Holocaust on Your Plate” campaign crassly compared the Jewish victims of Nazi genocide to farm animals.

7) PETA frequently looks the other way when its celebrity spokespersons don’t practice what it preaches. As gossip bloggers and Hollywood journalists have noted, Pamela Anderson’s Dodge Viper (auctioned to benefit PETA) had a “luxurious leather interior”; Jenna Jameson was photographed fishing, slurping oysters, and wearing a leather jacket just weeks after launching an anti-leather campaign for PETA; Morrissey got an official “okay” from PETA after eating at a steakhouse; Dita von Teese has written about her love of furs and foie gras; Steve-O built a career out of abusing small animals on film; the officially “anti-fur” Eva Mendes often wears fur anyway; and Charlize Theron’s celebrated October 2007 Vogue cover shoot featured several suede garments. In 2008, “Baby Phat” designer Kimora Lee Simmons became a PETA spokesmodel despite working with fur and leather, after making a $20,000 donation to the animal rights group.

www.animalscam.com
www.naiaonline.org
www.saova.org
www.humanewatch.org

Yes, I object to seeing PETA ads at tollbooths. PETA is a political organization, and advertising at state-funded institutions should be political-averse. I'd rather have the clutter-free experience of no ads at tollbooths, but given the State's constant need for income to waste, having some advertising is probably inevitable. Maybe get a garden company to advertise in the spring, or a leaf blower manufacturer to advertise in the fall, or news ticker to run.

COMMENT: But here's the conundrum. Under the First Amendment, it's highly questionable whether a government agency could allow advertising only if it's non-political. Political speech enjoys the highest degree of constitutional protectiuon. -- MTD

Check out this funny video PETA made: http://meat.org

What is the connection between veganism / vegetarianism and sex?? There are enough ethical, environmental and health motives to propel one to become vegan. It's about time for PETA to appeal to reason.

With all the money I'm going to save on tolls I can double my beef jerky purchases.

"PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk has described her group’s overall goal as “total animal liberation.” This means the complete abolition of meat, milk, cheese, eggs, honey, zoos, aquariums, circuses, wool, leather, fur, silk, hunting, fishing, and pet ownership."

Hmm . . . sound like PETA would be perfectly happy if animals just ceased tdo exist.

I take issue with the messaging - meat, all on its own, is no more responsible for heart attacks than wine, all on its own, is for drunk drivers. Granted, a poor diet, built on excess amounts of meat, is unhealthy - just as a diet consisting solely of lettuce, or solely of beans, or solely of junk food would be. This ad makes it seem like every chicken breast, every hamburger, every fish filet carves minutes/hours off of your life. C'mon, they're not cigarettes!