If you are shocked, offended, mortified or emotionally shifted by the ad campaigns that nonprofit organization PETA has shown to you, then by their right they are doing their job correctly.
The “People for Ethical Treatment of Animals” paves its way through people’s minds with ads
containing such things as nude women, animal carcass, and humans in the awful positions that
animals are compromised into in order to persuade the “innocent” public to stop the use and
consumption of products made by people who bring these animals to their death. If the subject
matter is considered taboo or visually upsetting to the general public, PETA will utilize the fact
that it is out of the ordinary, hire a ton of over publicized celebrities, and make sure you never
even think about eating at the KFC down the street, for KFC “Scalds Chicks to Death,” (this
phrase was part of a live performance campaign that involved two scantily clad women bathing
in a tub full of blood with the words written on the side of it. It was erected outside of KFC
restaurants to try and persuade customers to stray away from the place).
What is humorous about PETA ads is that they are not subliminal, and they don’t try to slip
secret persuasive messages into the brains of their viewers, because their content is so in your
face and harsh. The message that they are aiming to shoot out to the public is so blatant, that
there could be no way in hell that they don’t realize the extremity of their blood, nudity, and
images of dead animals. Don’t get me wrong, because of course they are using methods of
persuasion. They are ruffling the feathers of onlookers, and even though nothing has seemed to
change in the world of animal rights, PETA is leaving their paw print on the hearts and minds of
their targeted audience: the whole entire meat eating, fur wearing, and leather clad car seated
world.
To get their point across even further, PETA uses short and to-the-point messages in their ads
making people ponder as they walk by, planting that seed of knowledge about the truly vile acts
of cruelty being forced upon animals. These messages include “Feeding Kids Meat Is Child
Abuse,” which features a heavy-set child putting a hamburger to their mouth, and underneath
says “Fight the Fat.” PETA is trying to persuade onlookers to go vegetarian by using their kids as
a scapegoat for their campaigns. Since PETA is so well-known, parents are going to take this
nugget of logic and stop buying meat to feed their children, clearly. “Shackled, Beaten, Abused.
Stop Cruelty to Elephants” contains a relatively beautiful woman with a skimpy grey outfit clad
in chains while two men are about to club her from behind. They are putting a female in the
position of the elephants being abused in order to show that we as humans are just as equal as the
elephants. We see a woman wrapped up in a sexy pose in place of the animal, and we
automatically feel bad for her. After all, we don’t want to see beautiful and busty woman get
killed for her skin, but if it were a regular “Plain Jane” of a woman, we wouldn’t even think
twice, right?
Although the visuals in these ads tend to “shock” or “unsettle” America, what does it say about
this organization? If PETA is such a stronghold in the fight against animal cruelty, why do they
feel it proper to shove sex and gore down the gullets of Americans rather than meat? It is because
when people go through the routine of their everyday lives, they don’t expect to look up at a
billboard on the side of the road and see their favorite celebrity posing nude with a block of
informative text next to them. This is a surprise. This is shock. The mere sight of it causes some
sort of change in the person, whether they are aware of it at the time or not. These ads make us
aware and they make us look, and it is true that some people see these and want to make a
change in their lives. But, is PETA just the ringleader in a flashy show of shock for shock, and
not shock for change?
Although they are very metaphorical at times, they enable the use of ethos, logos, and pathos in
their ads.