"There is difference and there is power. And who holds the power decides the meaning of the difference." --June Jordan

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I Can't Believe it's Not PETA

This is fucking horrifying. HUGE trigger warning:



David Kiefaber from AdFreak writes:
Dutch non-profit Animals Awake takes a page from PETA's playbook in this disturbing spot by getting festish model/Playboy Playmate/sexy vegetarian Ancilla Tilia to strip naked. But then the ad gets, well, Dutch, and the poor girl is gutted like a trout by some dowdy fisherman. The point is to discourage stripping fish while they're still alive. Similar consideration, we're sure, should be given to Ms. Tilia. But as PETA so often does, Animals Awake muddles the message here in the delivery. Gutting a fish, even while it's alive, and killing a human being in a room full of people just aren't the same thing. Animals Awake has a worthy message to relay, but it could do so without all the gimmickry.

The only thing I have to add to this is to make the point that in a world where women are constantly and systematically objectified and victimized, ads like this are completely and utterly inexcusable.

8 comments:

Kelly said...

I'm not going to watch it, but from the description, may I just say "EEEEEEWWWWW."

Frankly, I'm a little surprised I don't want to watch it. I love horror movies (the grosser, the better), but I have a feeling this will turn my stomach AND piss me off.

As much as I advocate animal rights, I can't support PETA and organizations like this one because of their shock tactics. The way I see it, if you waste all your resources and energy performing stunts, you can't be very effective.

Unknown said...

That was just awful. How the hell does that equate to 'stop eating fish'? It's so disturbing I think the intended message is completely lost.

@Kelly - Same here, I love horror so gore doesn't bother me but this was just horrible.

Dolly said...

I just don't have any words anymore. Well, now that I've said that, I do: you know, if what PeTA or whatever other animal rights organization is trying to take a page out of their book was actually trying to do was to show how grotesque doing something like this to a human would be, they would feature men and women of all different shapes, colors, and sizes to emphasize how horrible it would be for all of us (and, just to be clear, I don't support that at all, because I don't think depicting violence to end violence is effective--just trying to make this point that comes next). The fact that they keep trotting out white, blonde, thin, conventionally beautiful/pornographic women to fulfill these "violentally violated body" roles makes it clear that it isn't about the "inhumanity" of something. It's that other bodies are supposed to be so grotesque or (in the case of male bodies) not as affable to objectification that they aren't worth skewering on video.

It seems so many of these animal rights orgs are in this race to get their "oppression" solved first. Until animals have their rights, people can take the ticket for next in line. The problem is, kyriarchy doesn't work that way. If one oppression is solved, all other oppresions don't magically disappear. In the end, all it will mean is animals > women. And even those that think of animals as equal of respect and status of humans should know that's just not right.

Whew. I had a lot of words after all. :)

Andorka said...

okay, i made the mistake of watching that, it was disgusting, i am all for animal right, and im a vegetarian myself, but i really dont like it when animal rights are equated with human rights, or worse...is it possible this ad is insinuating that they are before human (womens) rights

Smirking Cat said...

Don't they also have an ad campaign with women stripping naked to demonstrate not wearing fur? Degrading women to promote animals seems to be a constant theme.

Tracey said...

Yeah, it's called the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign, which is all well and good, but it's always sexualized women who would rather go naked. That's not the worst of PETA's sexist ads, though. You can find them anywhere.

plumpdumpling said...

Isn't it great, though, that the chick has unshaven legs?

Tracey said...

Funny. I totally didn't notice that.