Newsflash PETA: Nudity and shock value are only novel for so long.
I guess I can give PETA points for creativity and timeliness, but how many points do I subtract for consistent sexism, misogyny and, um…hardly ever depicting a single animal?
The latest controversy-causing PETA ads poke fun at the body scan machines used at airport security checkpoints, and feature a half-naked woman (naturally).
The message, “Be Proud of Your Body Scan: Go Vegan” is displayed across her bra and underwear.
Classy as always, PETA.
Okay, the ads are attention-grabbing. They’re unexpected. They’re “cutting edge” (can’t you just see a roomful of ad execs excitedly throwing that term around?).
But can we think outside the objectification box just once? Really, throw a bunny in there. Maybe a puppy or something? Show me anything even remotely relating to animals and why I should treat them ethically, please?
Major airport in New York, North Carolina, and Las Vegas (even Vegas has standards) refuse to display the ads, and Boston’s Logan Airport recently rejected a racy PETA web ad featuring (surprise!) Pamela Anderson.
Seriously, even old dogs learn new tricks quicker than this.
— Michelle Konstantinovsky is a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and an avid admirer of shiny objects and preteen entertainment. It would be nice if you visited her website: www.michellekmedia.com. Also, she may learn to use Twitter more effectively if you follow her @michelley415.
I applaud AF for calling out PETA on this. Many members of PETA are feminists as well so I fail to understand what they are thinking. If the poster read “Be proud of your body scan: Drink Diet Coke” the reaction would be horrendous in it’s thunder of feminists voices, yet PETA seems to get a pass. Truth in fact I know more than a few chubby vegans/vegetarians. I also know many men and women who in fact find the more cherubic and rubinesque to be quite “sexy”. For bringing this to peoples attention AF gains much respect from me. Keep up the good work and fair coverage.
This advertisement is disgusting. Even with the minimal amount of clothing on the woman’s body in the poster, she still is not appropriately covered. (More than an appropriate amount of her breasts are showing.) If you wouldn’t get away with putting this picture on the cover of a magazine, you surely shouldn’t use it for an advertisement, especially not in an airport. It doesn’t matter that the image is a scan; I still see a woman’s body portrayed in an unethical way.
If I wanted to be a vegan, I’d wouldn’t make that choice so that I could go on a diet. PETA is very out of touch with women, who it envisions are only obsessed with their bodies and weight. I have considered going vegan or at least vegetarian in the past, but it was for reasons unrelated to weight. PETA’s advertisements are counterproductive: they make me and others question veganism more than support it. (That’s not to say that veganism and vegetarianism are not valid decisions. I’m just saying that PETA’s advertising is extremely questionable.)
We are bombarded with images of half naked women all the time. You know what might actually be more attention grabbing and original? Actually showing me animals and giving me real facts about the health impact of hormones and antibiotics, the food industry’s impact on the environment, and anything else that is actually relevant to the ethical treatment of animals.
Sadly enough, Elizabeth, as a result of the bombardment with images like this, I AM fairly obsessed with my body and weight. So, yeah, I do often make the choice not to eat meat because of that sort of brainwashing. (And, by extension, were I to be as skinny as I’d like to be would eat as much meat as I want–even the most cruelly treated.) Way to hold to the moral high ground, PETA! You’ve really made some significant mindset changes here!!
I am making a conscious decision to lose some weight, I gained much of it following an accident that laid me laid up and mobility challenged, but I am doing it for health reason not to make myself more attractive, I am attractive now, I have no problem finding dates or being accepted by friends, I do not apologize for my appearance and I always try to look my best, if everyone can gain this confidence they too, I think, would be much happier. I have a lot of problems in my life at the moment, my appearance is not one of them. PETA is cruel to humans and humans are animals too
Oh PETA…I recently wrote to them about their many ads featuring naked women in sexual positions vs. their ads featuring men with clothes on doing activities (such as boxing or talking about their music/acting career) etc… Their response? Women should be allowed to use their bodies as a means of protest and we shouldn’t try to limit them like countries who enforce clothing restrictions on women etc…etc.. It makes me sick that people would try to use the idea of female liberation as an excuse to objectify women.
As an animal lover and vegetarian, I much more prefer Mercy for Animals, you should check them out if you’re interested. They actually show animals in their ads…
I’m proud of my healthy, vegetarian figure, but it sure as hell doesn’t look like that. Maybe I need to cut out eggs and dairy to sprout plasticine double D’s?