According to The Irish Times, this video was made to promote the Japanese city of Shibushi, to promote its local eel farmers.
The male narrator... describes how he had vowed to do all he could to nurture her. “I fed her delicious food until she was full, and allowed her to get plenty of sleep,” he says. Seconds later viewers are treated to a close-up of eel being cooked on a barbecue grill. “We take great care when farming our eels,” says the narrator.
Indeed! The video has since been withdrawn by authorities, but not before it caused an uproar online.
Well-founded accusations of sexism aside, I find it ironic. The concept of anthropomorphizing animals we eat is a common tactic used by PETA:
Either way, the image of women as pieces of meat is pretty unpalatable.
Business Insider just published Ace Metrix's list of top-performing ads in 30 categories for the first quarter of 2015. Among them is Google's "Friends Furever" spot for Android:
Wait a minute here: Didn't the US Ad Council announce that it no longer supports the use of great apes in ads back in 2008?
PETA has been lobbying the ad industry to stop using apes as props for years. As a result, Omnicom Group's BBDO, GSD&M and Merkley & Partners; Interpublic's McCann Erickson, DraftFCB and RPA; Havas' Arnold and Euro RSCG; WPP's Grey Group, Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam and JWT; and Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett all agreed to stop using great apes in ads in 2011. The Google ad was created by Droga5, who apparently didn't get the memo.
I'm not PETA's greatest fan, but as a human (and having the Jane Goodall Institute as a client) the exploitation of our closest cousins by my industry troubles me.
The challenge with using any animals in advertising is their treatment, since they are not willing performers. The most intelligent social animals, such as great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans), elephants, and whales/dolphins, are wild animals that suffer from anxiety and depression when removed from their peers — even if captive bred. (Dogs are domestic animals, so they're a little bit of a different issue.)
The Google ad has representatives of all three of these animal groups performing for your amusement, and that of 16 million of your closest friends.
1. Post offensive, sexually provocative ad
2.
3. Save animals
Or at least that's how it goes in the minds of the people behind PETA ads. They seem to be under the impression that there's "no such thing as bad publicity." Well, there is.
If you're a feminist, and you support this organization, you are suffering from something called "cognitive dissonance." Look it up. And make a decision as to whether promoting veganism by degrading humans is really OK with your human rights beliefs.
More research is needed, but scientific studies have shown that many autistic kids improve dramatically when put on a diet free of dairy foods. One study of 20 children found a major reduction in autistic behavior in kids who were put on a casein-free diet (casein is a component of cow’s milk). And another study done by researchers at the University of Rome showed a “marked improvement” in the behavior of autistic children who were taken off dairy products.
Freethoughtblogs.com says that these studies are actually the work of the Autism Research Institute, which is described thusly in Wikipedia:
Quackwatch includes the Autism Research Institute on its list of "Questionable Organizations". It holds to the medically-discredited belief that autism is caused by vaccinations.It also suggests chelation therapy, a treatment which is dangerous enough to have caused multiple deaths.
PETA also manages to rely on anecdotes from people who are convinced their autistic children improved by eliminating dairy:
Then I realized that Miles’ ear infections had begun when he was 11 months old, just after we had switched him from soy formula to cow’s milk. He’d been on soy formula because my family was prone to allergies, and I’d read that soy might be better for him. I had breast-fed until he was 3 months old, but he didn’t tolerate breast milk very well—possibly because I was drinking lots of milk. There was nothing to lose, so I decided to eliminate all the dairy products from his diet. What happened next was nothing short of miraculous. Miles stopped screaming, he didn’t spend as much time repeating actions, and by the end of the first week, he pulled on my hand when he wanted to go downstairs. For the first time in months, he let his sister hold his hands to sing “Ring Around a Rosy.”
If PETA wants to promote a dairy-free diet because they don't believe animals should be forcibly milked for human sustenance, then why don't they just say that? Instead, they continue to make questionable health claims about diet.
The image above turned up today on Ads Of The World. Created by agency Phibious, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, it's a sexed-up — but mostly harmless — transformation of the brand into bikinis.
Within an hour of posting, AOTW's Ivan Raszl pointed out that there was already a parody version going around:
Posted on Facebook by Carlos Ríos, the caption reads "a real Coca-Cola's summer model, shall be like."
This is a common reaction to "junk food" advertising, familiar to readers of Adbusters:
Do you see the problem? Yes, soft drinks and fast food are fattening. But do we need to make fun of people's bodies to make this point?
It's another example how conflicting priorities and sensitivities make social media complicated. People who are against the corporate food industry want to make a statement about promoting unhealthy consumption, but in doing so they cross a line into "body shaming" that's hurtful to people other than their intended targets of derision.
Christian Serratos, who played Angela Weber in the Twilight movies, is already a PETA veteran at age 23. She previously appeared nude in one of their anti-fur ads, and appeared alongside a mixed bag of b-and c- list celebrities in an anti-sealing campaign.
Now Ms. Serratos gives us this Halloween pro-vegetarian campaign, appearing as a... zombie circus performer? ...vampire figure skater? ...reanimated magician's assistant? Not too sure.
I'm trying to figure out how someone thought this was sexy: "Oh yeah, the broccoli floret kind of looks like green shag carpet. We can have Patricia de Leon get all 'come hither' on it! Hawt!"
Not.
UPDATE: Tania pointed out that Ms. de Leon is also missing a leg.
That's 16-year-old Samia Finnerty, musician and daughter of actress Kathy Najimy, posing provocatively with another dumb double-entendre.
PETA calls her their "youngest pinup" and states:
PETA normally waits until people turn 18 before asking them to star in a "provocative" campaign, but not this time. Sixteen-year-old singer-songwriter Samia Najimy Finnerty stars in our new "Vegans Go All the Way" ad.
Classy. I also question the social marketing strategy of dissing vegetarians as being some kind of lesser vegans. Way to alienate a large proportion of your base, PETA!
If you visit here often, you know I'm not a big fan of PETA. I find the many of their campaigns stoop to shock or exploitative sexuality to grab eyeballs on the cheap.
But now they've gone and actually done something pretty interesting.
Since bebe has turned a deaf ear to the 80,000 people who have asked the company to ditch real fur, PETA has wheeled out our Trojan horse. We just bought stock in the company, so now we can attend its annual meetings and submit shareholder resolutions for the company to end fur sales. If you have stock, too, or know anyone who does, please let us know.
If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em. Love it.
The messaging they want to get across is also very specific:
Will bebe like us telling its shareholders that much of the company's rabbit fur comes from China, where there are no penalties for people who abuse animals on fur farms? Will bebe want its investors to see our undercover videos of Chinese fur farms—videos that show rabbits screaming as workers slit their throats, cut off their paws and heads, and even rip the skin from their still-moving bodies? Doubt it.
I am not personally against fur farming in principle, but if the claims about conditions in China are true, and were I a shareholder, I would insist they at least get the rabbit fur from a more ethical source. I almost want to buy some Bebe stock, just so I could observe the reactions.
I'm not sure that PETA will make a huge difference in this case, but I admire the creativity of the approach of using the corporate system, legally, from within.
Of course, they're still yelling and brandishing fake dead cats outside of Bebe corporate headquarters. But baby steps.
Since plain old nudity doesn't seem to grab any attention anymore, PETA has started looking for new taboos to exploit. One of the latest is female pubic hair.
I noted the start of this trend last year, when the animal welfare activists launched this anti-fur campaign:
While I realize that "bush" has been out of fashion among younger people for a few years (in 2010, porn star Sasha Grey provoked actual disgust and outrage when she did a nude scene in Entourage while sporting a pubic tuft) it's been over a year since sources like Jezebel have been declaring its renaissance.
Style aside, I think PETA's parody of pubic hair is dumb. Intimate grooming is increasingly becoming a feminist issue, like leg and pit hair were in the early days. But then again, when you base most of your advertising on sexualizing young women (in this case, model/actress Joanna Krupa) to get cheap attention for animals, I guess you're not to concerned about female empowerment.
Will it be Stephanie of Roseville, CA, who (in addition to the fact that she is naked) would like you to know, "There is an unfiltered kindness and love in an animals eyes that you just can't find in a persons" (sic)?
Or Erika of Greenville, SC, who riddles us this: "If you love animals called pets, why do you eat animals called dinner?"
There are men in the running as well.
Zachary of Brooklyn, NY, who seems to have a hard time keeping his underpants up, says "No animals were harmed in the making of this body."
Malik of Pembroke Pines, FL, says "Animals have a place in my heart, not in my stomach".
You only have two weeks left to vote for the two winners, who will then be sent to Hawaii together to prove how much sex vegetarians can have. (Presuming they're both straight. But I don't want to promote any stereotypes here...)
According to AdFreak, a Baltimore city councillor has proposed selling ad space on city vehicles to add an new revenue stream. PETA has already mocked up their own custom ad for the occasion, claiming that seeing a half-naked woman and a bad pun "will drive Baltimore residents to PETA's heart-healthy vegan recipes that will keep them firing on all cylinders."
America's Most Unspeakably Nasty Teen Bride™, of whom I keep lying about never blogging again, seems to have really taken to vegetarianism. A couple of weeks ago, PETA apparently accepted and promoted a video she made for them with her dog.
This new one, however...
I guess she feels that the Go Veg movement is interest she can borrow as she trashes her way through the last 15 seconds of her fame.
Next time, I hope she goes back to shooting these to black and white. That tan is much less unsettling as a shade of grey.
I suppose the combination of model Sheridyn Fisher's body heat and the studio lights would wilt lettuce pretty quickly, but come on, PETA.
Of course, it's not as if the Playboy Bunny has never been photoshopped before. But it's probably the most awkward and least fun photo editing job anyone's ever had with one of her photos.
You can see the "real" lettuce swimwear in the video version here:
I'm not a PETA fan, and I like to go fishing. But I appreciate a good prank. Plus, it's very appropriate for Easter, since acrostics were a popular code among early Christians.
It may not be effective social marketing, putting a hidden message out, but the earned media around it should garner a few extra clicks.
Of course some do. You can do amazing things with grilled vegetables and mushrooms.
But this flyer, from a local distributor for BBQing.com, seems to be betting not only that its potential customers are not vegetarians, but also that they hate PETA.
Now, I am not a vegetarian and I do dislike PETA's marketing tactics and extremism. This brand is probably making a smart strategic move by targeting guys (let's face it) who eat lots of meat and like to feel obnoxious about it. Canadian Tire and Home Depot can't do this, because they have to appeal to everyone. These guys can afford to be assholes.
By the way, if the "mashed potatoes" gag seems familiar it's because this billboard has been floating around the internet forever:
But if you're going to wear that statement around, you might as well get the original.
PETA's description: "In this video that Courtney and her dog, Bazaar, shot for PETA, the teen newlywed shares how eating cruelty-free has helped her save animals' lives, protect the environment, and get a figure that the shutterbugs can't get enough of."
I'm not sure why PETA chose her, beside the fact that she claims to be a vegetarian and craves attention. She's not exactly good at the "speaking" part of the whole "spokesperson" thing. But at least she kept more clothes on here than in most of her public photoshoots. Which is kind of ironic for a PETA ad.
