Let us do a little exercise in word (or acronym) association… PETA. I’d be willing to bet that most of you conjured up the images of paint-soaked fur coats, veggie burgers, and screaming, dread-locked extremists. But I am not here to discuss the hassle of getting acrylic paint out of a mink, or debate my opinions about PETA’s latest antics, I simply wish to inform my reader (yes, singular) about the creative ways PETA has used PR to promote vegetarianism and ethical treatment of animals. To do this I have selected three public relations/ advertising campaigns that PETA has introduced over the last few years.
Number 1. Theme: Sex. Medium: TV commercial. Year: 2008
Racy? Yes. Original? Very. Memorable? 100% This campaign was designed as almost an incentive to convince people to support the ethical treatment of animals by going vegetarian.
Number 2. Theme: Humor. Medium: Viral video Year: 2008
Offensive? Slightly. Effective? Yes. Funny? Absolutely. This video does not relate to vegetarianism, obviously. But it does send a good message about the inhumane and unethical treatment of dogs and how animals are abused and neglected because of their “impurity.”
Number 3. Theme: Celebrity Endorsement. Medium: Still Photo. Year 2009
Unique? Yes. Memorable? Yes. Effective? Not so much. This is just one of many photos from a campaign entitled “I’d rather go naked than wear fur.” The purpose of this campaign was to raise awareness to the number of celebrities who choose to live a vegetarian lifestyle, in hopes of inspiring celeb-wanna be’s to do the same.
While PETA is the most widely recognized animal rights organization and a rule-breaking, hard-hitting force to be reckoned with, they are also a professional organization with brilliant PR and advertising campaigns that will stand the test of time and maybe even convert one or two people to go veg.
