Organization Lost in Old, Tired Adverting: Resorts to Offensive Attention-Grabs
By Amanda Eldreth
Elm Staff Writer
I want to like PETA. The roots of their beliefs are noble, and the group was founded by two people who gave up everything in order to dedicate their lives to rally public support for animal rights. Unfortunately, what may be necessary yet outrageous, attention-seeking actions and campaigns have earned People for Ethical Treatment of Animals a reputation as being brash and tasteless. Some of their ideas offend all sides of the spectrum. However, I think that with a cause like animal rights, activists can’t always afford to be picky about how we make our cause known.
Animal rights activists face a challenge in capturing the support and hearts of the public. Therefore PETA finds success in pop culture and controversy. In most cases, PETA’s ad campaigns feature nude celebrities in an attempt to showcase that everyone should be comfortable in their own skin and let animals do the same.
The idea of using celebrities is not foreign in advertising, but PETA got its original success from targeting younger generations with the help of vegan Steven Morrissey. His support boosted other household name celebrities’ involvement, and PETA gained more support.
I can understand why they continue to utilize celebrities in their ads, but at this point I don’t think it’s enough. By using celebrities like Traci Bingham, the focus is then on the scandal of that person posing naked for animal rights and lowering themselves to the same level of animals (like the ad where Bingham posed naked with her skin labeled as cuts of meat like they do for cows.) Ads like that are thought to be created for male consumers and the overall meaning of the ad is lost, instead focusing on subliminal sex messaging.
Just recently, I found out about a campaign of PETA’s that has been going on for a few years: Ink Not Mink. By this point, it should be no secret that I am a supporter of tattoos and therefore think that the campaign is a fabulous idea. Their slogan is “Be comfortable in your own skin and let animals keep theirs.”
As per PETA’s standard, celebrities who are decently inked up bare it all for the pledge to be fur free; among those who have posed are Ami James (NY Ink), Dave Navarro, Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), Steve-O and more. Steve-O was quoted as saying “Abuse yourself all you want, just leave animals out of it. Don’t wear fur.”
Where PETA fails is focusing on the significance of language and how powerful their ads could be. Where are the ads? Instead of focusing on pop culture and internet, why not take the campaigns a step further?
I think the Ink Not Mink campaign would benefit from collecting sponsors from tattoo shops and creating a specific tattoo people could get to support the cause and have the proceeds go to PETA. That way, the risk of people rushing out for impulsive tattoos can be avoided, and the general public can feel more involved in the campaign than simply looking it up online.
PETA needs to step out of their comfort zone. I would respect them more were they to stop jumping on the capitalist bandwagon of sex and celebrities. Simply because the opposition has majority support, wealth, and free ads does not mean PETA should always resort to the provocative and controversial to get people to listen.