Rhetorical Analysis: PETA

The animal rights group, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), is known for their forthright method of promoting vegetarianism. PETA has mainly used celebrities in slightly sexualized advertisements to advocate their claim that vegetarianism is the healthiest and best lifestyle. However, widespread outrage erupted in 2009 after the animal rights organization launched their “Save the Whales” campaign. The introductory campaign ad featured a billboard presumably shaming a woman for being obese, due to her meat-eating. As a result, the activist group was accused of “fat shaming”. PETA’s advertisement uses pathos to shame people into vegetarianism, ethos to support their claims that vegetarianism is a healthier lifestyle, and images

to display the effects that eating meat can have on the body and to put an emphasis on their message.
The “Save the Whales” campaign was launched in August of 2009 in Jacksonville, Florida, with a billboard displaying their advertisement. The cartoon advertisement depicts an obese woman in a bikini on a beach. “Save the Whales” is written in large, white letters. “Lose the blubber: go vegetarian.” is written underneath the first statement in smaller, all capital red letters. Similar to many of PETA’s advertisements, the goal of the campaign was to encourage vegetarianism amongst the general public. However, the campaign sparked outrage instead.
To begin with, pathos is used in this advertisement to channel an individual’s self-esteem. In the advertisement, an obese woman is seen wearing a bathing suit that many would say is not the correct attire for her body type. The company uses the word, “whale” and other language such as “Lose the blubber” to metaphorically suggest that the woman is a whale that has been washed ashore.(Graffeo) This advertisement used the image and figurative language to “shame” obese people into vegetarianism. In this advertisement, PETA indirectly supports their claim that vegetarianism is a healthier lifestyle that will assist people, specifically women, with losing weight. One could interpret that the purpose of the use of the metaphors, as well as the image is to channel an individual’s self-esteem. By doing so, the advertisement shames a person who sees themself as overweight or obese, into becoming a vegetarian to gain a “better beach body”. (Graffeo)
Fat shaming is the act of using images or language in advertisements to make a person of a certain body type feel ashamed to an extent that persuades the person to change their physical image. In spite of its constant use, fat shaming has been proven to have little or no effect on people. Studies have shown that fat shaming is more likely to cause weight gain, rather than weight loss. (Rettner) In a study done in the United Kingdom, five percent of three thousand adults studied had experienced fat shaming. “Over a four year period, those who reported weight discrimination gained about two pounds, on average…” (Rettner)
Although the advertisement has a somewhat clear message, PETA’s approach was seen as offensive.

The animal rights organization was accused of “fat-shaming.” Fat-shaming is a term used to describe the nature of many forms of advertisements. Fat-shaming is the act of conveying a message in a way in which it can offend people of larger body types. “Jessica at Feministing blasts the billboard as ‘fat-shaming’ and that ‘PETA owes the residents of Jacksonville a serious apology.’” (qtd. In Goldstein) The claims of fat-shaming failed to persuade PETA to stop the campaign. One of PETA’s senior campaigners, Ashley Byrne, supports PETA’s claim, while conveying the main message of the advertisement, “‘Our goal is help overweight Jacksonville residents - the best way to do that is to go vegetarian. We're not trying to insult anyone. [....] Vegetarians look and feel better than meat eaters.’” PETA’s president and founder, Ingrid Newkirk, believes that the method used to convey their message in this campaign was appropriate. “‘America's obesity epidemic calls for tough love à la Dr. Phil and America's Biggest Loser, not more coddling and mock shock over a billboard pointing out that the majority of fat people need to have some discipline and remember that being fat means being a bad role model to our children, many of whom are now so fat themselves that "teeter-totter" has come to describe their wobbly gait.’” (qtd. In Goldstein) Newkirk also states that the overall intention of the advertisement was to promote the safety and welfare of

animals.
PETA is known for displaying many of their messages in an outspoken manner. The nature of the advertisement was not surprising to many, such as Holly, a writer for the blog “The Deceiver”. “‘This is exactly what you would expect [from PETA] -- no empathy for humans whatsoever, just a lot of B.S. about how vegetarianism will make fat people just a little bit less of a blight on humanity.’” (qtd. In Goldstein) However, this is not the first time a company has used fat-shaming to get their message across to readers.
PETA also uses ethos to assist in verifying their claim that living a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle is physically healthier for an individual internally and also alters their external image. Ingrid Newkirk, the founder and president of PETA supports the claim by using various statistics. Newkirk states that vegetarians are ten to twenty pounds lighter than their meat eating counterparts and continues by stating that “‘a vegetarian diet reduces our risk of heart disease by 40 percent and adds seven or more years to our lifespan.”” (qtd. In Goldstein) Liz Graffeo, a blogger for PETA also supports the claims her article about the billboard campaign. “Did you know that vegetarians are 20 – 30% leaner than meat-eaters?” (Graffeo)