I'm going to lean toward desperate on this one.
Disclaimer: I am an unashamed and unrelenting meat eater. I have parts of four different animals in my fridge right now.
I'll give PETA a few points for identifying their audience fairly well, although I'm not sure that's very difficult considering the event. There will probably be several commercials with scantily clad women during the Super Bowl.
But is this commercial even effective? Will a couple naked girls licking pumpkins and broccoli convince people to put down their chicken wings and chili dogs and abstain from meat?
No.
These guys sum up some questions I had when I first saw the commercial: did they intend to create a commercial that would be rejected to stir up more controversy and attention? Is this really original?
(Conversation starts at about 1:18)
PETA Commercial Banned, Intentional? from Skip Wisconsin on Vimeo.
PETA appeals to the sex drive first by showing sexual acts and finally by claiming that vegetarians have better sex. What would have been effective is if they revealed which studies surmised this.
They probably didn't because it's not true.
A Slate article examines the claim more thoroughly with, you know, some actual facts.
Vegetarian diets tend to correlate with higher rates of zinc deficiency, which is closely associated with lower testosterone levels and depressed sex drives. Vegetarian women are also more likely to develop amenorrhea (loss of periods), a condition that's usually accompanied by low testosterone, vaginal dryness, and poor libido. Finally, the notion that overweight people are less sexually active isn't entirely accurate (for women, at least): A recent analysis published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that overweight women might, in fact, be slightly more active.
Bottom line: PETA's advertising tactics have always revolved around shock value. This is really nothing new. Maybe PETA should take a tip from Jamie Oliver.
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5 comments:
PETA is a useless organization. I have not been able to get behind anything they've done, simply for the fact they're an organization of wing nuts who believe animals are more important than people. The only way to make someone from PETA happy would be to turn them into a cow, and slaughter them for food. What a way to further their cause. Now THAT'S an idea!
I don't always agree with everything PETA does, but I think the commercial is hilarious. I don't think PETA's goal was to convert anyone to vegetarianism - I think it was to make people who are already vegetarians feel a little pride. I know I smiled when I saw the commercial. As for the Slate article you refer to, the same one says this:
PETA noted that meat makes people "fat, sick, and boring in bed," claiming that vegetarians are, "on average, fitter and slimmer than meat eaters" and that meat and dairy consumption is linked to impotence, heart disease, and obesity. It's true that cardiovascular disease is associated with sexual dysfunction in both women and men and that obesity has been linked to low libido in both sexes. It's also true that, in Westernized countries at least, vegetarians and vegans tend to weigh less and have lower body-mass indexes and lower cholesterol levels than omnivores. This may be due to the fact that vegetarian diets tend to be higher in fiber and lower in protein, but it also may have to do with the fact that vegetarians are, in general, more health-conscious.
As a vegetarian, I liked the commercial because it depicts vegetarianism as a healthy, sexy, fun lifestyle. And I believe I embody all of of those things :)
LL: Three years ago when I was a freshman I started looking into vegetarianism and of course one of the things I came across was PETA. The videos and information I read from them was shocking and I was disturbed for a while... Until a close friend told me that it's all ridiculous propaganda and I should just relax and enjoy the food I like. It's a complicated situation but these Penn and Teller videos are (hilarious and) a good source of balance and perspective to the general PETA platform. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsHUBEfBNMo
Tara: The commercial has evoked a lot of conversation which is impressive and I'm sure the goal.
I don't think it was hilarious but that's just differing opinions similar to our eating habits. I disagree that PETA made the commercial to make vegetarians feel a little pride. Especially with the amount of money they paid and would have been willing to pay to have it placed during the Super Bowl.
The Slate article proves that you can look at the "better sex" argument with conviction from either perspective.
As a human being I disliked the commercial because I thought it was unoriginal and a little ridiculous.
As a meat eater I am bored with the argument PETA etc use that anyone who is not a vegetarian is not healthy. I disagree wholeheartedly.
Both vegetarians and meat eaters can be unhealthy and both can be healthy, sexy and fun. Let's agree to disagree!
First - thanks for linking to our insights on SkipWisconsin! Of course we are just adding to what PETA is after... more conversation. But,let's hand it to them they achieved that goal and probably got more air time than they ever intended. I have to agree though that the argument is rather weak on all counts. Better sex? Better life? Healthier? That is a far stretch... One interesting perspective is that of Mark Bittman the author of "Food Matters" - He simply says something to the fact of eating less meat is better for your health, environment etc. Much stronger argument to my mind. I caught him on NPR, check it out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99268166
Thanks again,
Dan (@hplug)
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