A full-page ad featuring the rodent was headlined, "Some People Just See a Rat. We See a Cure for Cancer." Text running beneath the striking photo attacked "animal rights activists [who] use disinformation, pressure tactics and active terrorism....
"Society cannot allow itself to be manipulated by a handful of zealots who would equate the life of a rat with that of a child," the copy went on. At the bottom of the ad was a membership/contribution coupon for a group called Americans for Medical Progress (AMP).
The ad--placed at a cost to the organization of $17,000, according to the Times--also ran in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.
Advertisements like this are only one facet of a new campaign started by AMP, a one-year-old, nonprofit public relations organization based in Arlington, Va. The group, whose board is made up of researchers, physicians, clergy, and some national ...
