VietNamNet Bridge - Ha Okio is using his star power to bear down on the industrialized meat industry with a new ad for PETA, which features the singer confined to a cage alongside a chicken.

Ha Okio in PETA's ad.

The ad – which also depicts Okio holding a sign reading, "Try to Relate to the Animals' Fate. Go Vegetarian"– will show people that the best way to stop animal suffering and fight pollution and climate change at the same time is to go vegetarian. It was shot by photographer Milor Tran at S3 Studios.

"Meat is devastating for the environment, human health and animals", says Okio. "I'm joining PETA to ask caring people everywhere to drop artery-clogging meat for delicious, easy-to-find vegetarian options."

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to eat"– and Okio want people to know that pigs, chickens, fish and other animals killed for food suffer terribly when they are routinely abused and that they are faced with a painful and terrifying death. Also, eating meat and other animal-derived foods has been conclusively linked to heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Okio, a longtime vegetarian, was nominated for PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity contest, along with former US President Bill Clinton, Maggie Q, Paul McCartney, Jason Mraz, Vietnamese singer Ho Quynh Huong, beauty queen Truong Thi May and actor Dai Nghia.

The song "Your Heart", which was written and performed by Okio, was nominated for a 2014 Grammy Award, making him the first Vietnamese artist to achieve such an honour. Apart from his singing career, he is also an ambassador for 350.org, a global environmental organisation against climate change, and the Earth Hour campaign.

PV