PETA is known as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. They have more than 2 million members and supporters and are the world’s largest animal rights organization. They focus on four areas which are factory farms, laboratories, clothing trade, and entertainment industry. Other issues that they work on are the cruelty of killing beavers, birds and other pests.
The people that follow or support animal rights believe that animals should not be used for our food, clothing, entertainment and experimentation. They believe that animals deserve consideration of their best interest.
So what does that all have to do with two half naked women on a blow up bed kissing and posing provocatively. It’s an animal rights campaign taking place in Texas. PETA said that this promotes the message that vegetarians make better lovers. Many of the viewers feel offended, but does that mean it’s wrong?
PETA feels that this campaign is affected, and that many people do want to see it. They will stop for a sexy women wearing lingerie and won’t for their vegetarian starter kit. “It’s a sexy display”, says PETA’s spokes person Lisa Lange “it’s an attractive message to men”. PETA believes that people that are vegetarians are sexy and that they live a sexier lifestyle then a person that eats meat.
When asked about the super bowl ad she said “if it didn’t work we would use it”
Super bowl ad showed women rubbing vegetables all over themselves, many found this offensive too.
“People are getting the message. We got 3 million views of our super bowl commercial that went to web site and over half of them stayed on and watched the video of our undercover investigation."
So what is right and what is wrong? Is it ok to offend some people to get attention? I think that this is a great example of the PR that is going on today, even though some people might find two women kissing offensive, it’s what many people want to see. They are getting good results from this campaign, and the super bowl ratings prove that. 3 million people responded to the commercial and over half stayed on and watched the video.
It just proves that PR is about getting the attention that you want; you need to pull in your targets and get their attention. I think that this is a great campaign, even though not everyone finds it attractive obviously many people do and it is helping their organization and its helping them get the word out about them.
A lot of people are wondering what 2 women kissing have to do with animal rights, and I say nothing. But who cares, it’s making people interested and getting people to their site.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have to disagree with this totally. Why are women always the ones being exploited. Why aren't there two men kissing, etc? Not that I want to see that either!
ReplyDeleteThis type of pr just goes to show how low our moral values have become. Many of our younger generation watched these super bowl ads and they are very impressionable. What are these ads portraying to them.
There has to be a better way to get the attention of the PETA issues.
From a strictly ad-campaign/PR standpoint, yes this works. It makes me think PETA isn't quite as lame as I thought before I saw it--ONLY because they came up with this ridiculous way of drawing attention. If they pick sex to sell their message over bombing a turkey factory or the like, this is better (although only slightly).
ReplyDeleteAnd I also have to agree with Kim's comment--why is it always women looking hot and sexy that sells? Well, it just is. For whatever reason, we don't want to see two men kissing. It's extra gross. But two women is somehow not quite as gross. I'm sure there is some psychological study done on why this is. I just don't care enough to go find it.
From the perspective of PETA trying to get people’s attention I think this is very intelligent. Women looking sexy in ads seem to attract attention, not just from the men but from the women as well, so if I were doing PR I would probably do the same thing. Your objective is to get information about your company out to people, so most PR professionals do whatever they can to do this. I do understand that it may be offensive to some, but it is probably one of the best ways to attract attention.
ReplyDeleteThere's a saying in the publicity industry that goes "Any publicity is good publicity. Whether it's content is right or wrong." Personally, I don't think it's ok to advertise with nudity and sexuality because children of all ages see these campaigns and for a majority of them, it's not appropriate. Rape, kidnappings, and sexual abuse numbers are rising. Gee, I wonder why that could be?! Wait, is it possible that it's tied into the nudity, pornography, and sexual inuendos that our nations youth sees and hears on a daily basis? I believe that it is. Kids see how the older generation dresses and acts, and the content they see/hear on TV and billboards...it's absord to the amount of questionable material that the younger generations are exposed to.
ReplyDeletePETA has fought tooth and nail for attention and membership ever since it's start up. They have gotten angry and protested when meat companys and clothing companys used advertising similar to their current campaign. But because of their yerning for attention and membership, they're "gettin' down and playin' dirty." It's ridiculous how they just abandon their morals and standings just for the attention it grabs them. That's what makes men objectify women, and that's not the kind of attention (most) of us want.
i had never heard of this commercial until now, and i like it! i have never had that much respect for PETA becuase of their values and sometimes extreme methods of protest. this is a great example of todays public relations Jess. so many businesses use sex appeal to get attention, who is to say PETA isnt allowed to use it? watching this commercial really makes me hungry for some vegetables!
ReplyDeleteWow, I must have missed that commercial during the superbowl. It is a good attention grabber for any company. Sex sells and companies use that to their advantage every day I guess it was about time a group used it to bring attention to a set of beiefs. It kind of shocks me that people who are against anything to do with harming animals would create a commercial of naked women kissing.
ReplyDeleteThere are the stangest commercial on the television these days. Things that aren't even close to the actual main point. Its what PR divisions have to do these days to catch people's attention. I don't think it is the right thing to do and I especially don't want to see two women kissing on a commercial.