Advertising dead animals

Monday 25th October 2010
If we condone what the Animal Industries do then perhaps we deserve to be punished for being weak. The punishment is guilt about doing what we do, but weirdly, it’s a turn-on too ... our various ‘little weaknesses’. And they wouldn’t be so bad if indulging them didn’t involve another’s misery - how about an ad that said:
“Donuts are delicious, inexpensive and available from your nearest store; on the downside, consider the hen who laid the egg which was used to make your donut so fluffy and rich tasting”.
Advertising depends on human weakness, for certain foods or fashions, and whether we’re buying fur or cashmere or whether it’s meat or milk, the consumer is part of the support team. Each buyer of goods is supporting a branch of the Animal Industry, an organisation to which one normally wouldn’t give a seal of approval. Their customers, in deciding to buy their stuff, help to deny animals the support they need. By following the crowd the chance to boycott is not taken.
We probably buy most food products without a second thought. In the Church of Convention the TV message shows us how to behave like ‘normal people’. In the TV ads, the actor is always good-looking and speaks in praise of the product, which we then go out and buy. We might wonder how a professional actor could help to sell stuff like this, and yet they do. In Australia everyone’s familiar with a movie actor who is, these days, best known for dancing (literally) hand in hand with an ape … in praise of red meat. It’s incredible to see him doing it night after night … but he gets paid to do it ... and presumably many consumers are supporting his gig.