PETA and Agent/cy

After viewing the agent/cy slides for today, I could not help but notice the nuanced contrast between the United Way slides and the PETA slides. Yes, the form and aesthetics are radically different, but what both the advertisements accomplish is vastly different as well. As noted in the Barton reading, the United Way advertisements contain "representations of disability that depend on familiar themes of pity and fear, quasi-religious themes that have historically pervaded charity fund raising"(173). The end result of this strategy and the other strategies used by the United Way to raise money is that it "regularly diminishes the experience of people with disabilities and ultimately diminishes the understanding of disability by society at large"(195).  While the PETA posters use similar tactics of fear and pity, the end result does not dehumanize or deprive agency of the subject being used in the advertisement, rather, the advertisements are one of many devices aiming to provide the subject (animals) with agency.

In the first advertisement we see a severed cow's head with text "Does Your Food Have A Face?" and another line of text that states "Go Vegetarian". The advertisement aims to have us sympathize with the cow by using the term "face" which makes us create associations with other things that have faces like humans, dogs, cats, etc. The ad, while not going as far to equivocate cows with humans, does create associations for us that elevate it beyond just a object for consumption. All of the PETA ads in the agent/cy presentation, in one way or another, attempt to elevate the animal beyond a food group, testing subject, or form of entertainment. While the advertisements do offer a simplistic view of animal welfare and rights, their purpose is to incite thought, further research, and conversation rather than provide a nuanced explanation for the group's beliefs.

Side note: I think it's important to mention that I find the PETA ads in and of themselves effective in their goals, while at the same time being undermined by the reputation of the organization that created them. Additionally, the advertising medium does not offer complicated explanations for ideas; it simplifies them and uses limited means to invoke emotion.