Advertisements are often created to send a subliminal message to viewers, where the ad is believed to show a statement, while actually showing an entirely different statement. While subliminal advertising can be harmless, it can cause more harm than intended. The nonprofit organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, has been known to make controversial advertisements to encourage people to stop unethical treatment of animals. PETA has very strong beliefs against many different ways that humans harm animals, one of which is the meat packaging industry. PETA encourages people to go vegetarian with their diets, which would eventually help end the killing of animals for food. While PETA’s mission and value is not intended to hurt humans, their advertisements are somewhat controversial in sharing the company’s beliefs.
This advertisement created by PETA is meant to encourage people to change their diets to vegetarianism by equating an animal’s body with a human’s body. They wanted to show how animals would be cut up to consume on a human body, as a way to change a person’s viewpoint on the meat packaging industry. PETA chose Pamela Anderson, a well-known celebrity and public figure to be the model for this advertisement. In the ad, Anderson is wearing a scantily clad bikini and posing in a sexual manner, as to grab the attention of the viewer. Anderson’s body is sectioned off and labelled with paint, similar to how a cow’s body would be divided up for different cuts of meat. At the top of the ad, the tagline of the ad states “All animals have the same parts”. Underneath the tagline, the words “Have a heart; go vegetarian” appear next to Anderson’s body.
The problem with this advertisement is that PETA is equating a woman’s body with an animal’s body, therefore making the ad sexist. They refer to Anderson as an animal, and nothing more than that. PETA used Anderson’s body in a sexual way and referred to her as an animal, stripping her of her identity as an intellectual human. PETA could have used any woman’s body for this advertisement because they only want a body to be used like an animal. While PETA did seek her out to represent the organization, they didn’t utilize her as an advocate for vegetarianism. They only used her body to display her like a livestock animal. Advertisements like this create sexist stereotypes for women because it encourages people to view women as “animals”, not human beings.
Tags: advertisments, sexism
