Questions to Consider:
* What is this ad trying to convey?
* Who is this ad’s intended audience?
* What does a woman’s body have to do with the ethical treatment of animals?
What We Think:
They may be called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but it’s hard to remember the last time PETA’s ads showed any creature that wasn’t baring decidedly human, female assets.
PETA’s latest shock tactic showcases Pamela Anderson marked up like a butcher’s diagram, helpfully indicating where to find her “breast,” “rump,” “round,” and more. According to PETA’s web site, the tagline “All Animals Have the Same Parts” suggests that “just like humans, animals are made of flesh, blood, and bone and have organs and senses.”
Call us crazy, but seeing a bikini-clad Pam divided up and defined by her body parts makes us think sexism, not empathy for animals.
Officials in Canada seemed to agree, because they banned the ad, saying, “it goes against all principles public organizations are fighting for in the everlasting battle of equality between men and women.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
And P.S. PETA, don’t think we’re letting you off the hook for last year’s grossly offensive “Save the Whales” campaign, either. (by Michelle Konstantinovsky)
Take Action! Contact:
PETA
501 Front St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 622-PETA
email: info@peta.org
web comment form: peta.org/about/c-email_peta.asp
PETA seems to never get the idea that objectifying and exploiting women in a way, they would be offended by seeing in animals is not good.
First, who do they think they’re attracting with these stunts? People who share a real concern about animals, or guys who are just humoring their model to get up close to them?
Second, this pushes women away from their foundation. Is this what they want? Do they want to have the image, that PETA’s female volunteers are unable to dress themselves, like a pre-schooler? That’s the message I feel they’re sending, our women are too dumb to portray a message by themselves, so we’re going to have them run around half naked like 10 year olds at a pool party! This clearly is infantilizing women, what women is going to support a movement that says they’re essentially beyond stupid, and animals are smarter than them?
What even makes less sense to me, is PETA is run by Ingrid Newkirk, a woman. I could understand this kind of sexism coming from a man, but a fellow woman? Does she really have such disrespect for her own kind, she doesn’t believe they can host a protest with their clothes on and get attention? I had thought their next campaign, should be where they appear to be teaching their nude protesters how to dress like 2 year olds, but that would be infantlizing women and PETA most likely would be clueless as to it being a statement against their view of women as children.
PETA stinks! I would never support PETA with time, money or sponsorship. With PETA, you have to compromise one moral (equality) to support another (animal rights). If anyone wants to fight the fight for animal rights, support the Humane Society, which publishes (can you believe it?!) ANIMALS on their literature!!! Support your local no kill shelter, http://www.animalfreedom.org, or the ASPCA. If PETA has to advertise their organization with such offensive literature and publications, how good of an organization can it be?