Actor Pamela Anderson backs Peta with a pose highlighting the anatomical reality of meat meals. Photograph: PetaIs it art? Is it meat? Is it sexist? Whatever it is, the latest advertisement from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is eye-catching.

The poster girl, the former Baywatch star and committed vegetarian Pamela Anderson, insisted that her decision to wear a bikini and portray her body as collection of cuts of meat, had not been a tough one.

“I decided to do this provocative style because there is so much competition for people’s attention today, so Peta and I wanted to make sure the message couldn’t be ignored,” she said.

Anderson shrugged off the suggestion that some people might gaze at the poster for carnal gratification rather than vegetarian epiphany.

“The butcher diagram is the perfect thing to parody, because it allows you to use your own body as a protest tool,” she explained.

Anderson will launch Peta’s fresh effort to convert the UK to the benefits of vegetarianism, at an event outside the London Transport Museum, in Covent Garden, at 2pm on Sunday.

Peta, in its work for animal rights over 30 years, has drawn attention to procedures in farming, laboratories, circuses and the clothing trade, and to wildlife issues, and cruelty in general. Some of its publicity campaigns have attracted controversy. A poster featuring the face of one of those convicted of killing “Baby  P” and linking cruelty to animals to cruelty to humans, was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Dan Mathews, Peta’s senior vice president, said he had high hopes for the new campaign. “As Peta’s ‘weapon of mass distraction’, Pamela has lured legions of pop culture junkies to Peta’s website and sparked interest in animal issues in a very unique way,” he said.