Submitted Art PETA is proposing this banner or billboard for display on Minot’s Third Street Bridge, with advertising revenue helping to pay for bridge repairs.

Minot city officials are being asked to contemplate the idea of placing a large image of a cow on the Third Street Bridge.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) submitted an offer to Mayor Mark Jantzer this week to buy advertising space on the northeast Minot bridge as a way to help with the upcoming cost of bridge repairs. The proposed bridge signage would feature the face of a cow and promote a vegan starter kit, stating “Get Over (That Meat Addiction)!”

Jantzer said decisions would need to be made about the placement of a billboard and criteria established – if there is even interest in allowing advertising on public infrastructure.

Amber Canavan, associate director of Vegan Campaigns at PETA, said billboards on public infrastructure have been part of PETA’s advertising strategy for around a couple of decades. The organization recently placed a billboard on a Chicago bridge near a sports arena.

“We’re always looking for creative ways of getting the message out there, and one of them is through creative advertising. We’re always on the lookout for places that maybe have some funding gaps or would be interested in some kind of collaboration for an interesting ad placement. We thought the situation with the bridge would be perfect,” she said of the Minot proposal.

The Minot signage could take a banner or billboard form, but whatever form it takes, it would be a large and eye-catching display, she said. The goal is to start conversations that otherwise wouldn’t exist around the use of animals for food, she said.

“We want drivers to pause and consider the lives suffering behind the scenes in the meat industry. Cows, for example, are intelligent and self aware individuals. They recognize faces of other cows, even just from photographs, and they love their families just as much as we do. So, we’re just encouraging people to give them a thought as they’re going about their daily lives and maybe make some changes,” Canavan said.

PETA has placed similar ads across the country and has advertised in North Dakota previously, she said. In Minot, the price and the length of time of advertising would be subject to negotiation with the city.

Jantzer said the city will need to review its ordinances around permitted advertising. The city also will need to weigh whether the content of the proposed signage is appropriate or divisive and whether it opens the door to more groups wanting ad space on public infrastructure.

“This needs some work before anything would move forward,” Jantzer said. “Maybe in the right circumstances there are some possibilities for doing some of that. But we’re not there yet,” he added. “We’ll try to explore it and see what the pros and cons are. If it looks like it’s something we want to seriously consider, then it’ll have to come before the council.”