Call to voice your displeasure over unfunny animal abuse game

While I often hate to give any additional visibility to things that are better off ignored, I was appalled by an unfunny online game that involves the abuse of dead pets. The site (deadpetsgame.com) supports a book that "explores and explains the universe of the Dead Pet. From dead pets in public life... to a selection of the cruellest (sic) deaths meted out to pets in the movies... from a comparison of attitudes and doctrines of pet afterlife across religions to Ancient Roman recipes for dormice and songbirds."

I won't fault the publisher of the book (Canongate) for the book itself--I love that we live in a world and country where people are free to purchase or read virtually anything. But that doesn't mean that a "game" in such poor taste needs to be used to market a book. Animal abuse isn't funny, and offering a free game where any kid (or adult) can beat a dead animal with a baseball bat is, in my opinion, completely unacceptable.

I try to keep my sense of humor about things, but I let the publisher know I did not approve and requested they take down the Web site. If you agree (or if you disagree and feel the publisher's site is appropriate), you can e-mail the publisher at customerservices@canongate.co.uk.