Advertising dead animals

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If we condone what the Animal Industries do then perhaps we deserve to be punished with self-inflicted guilt, for doing what we do. But weirdly, it’s a turn-on too, for daring to have a few ‘little weaknesses’. It’s the same as the overweight person giggling at the naughtiness of eating another slice of chocolate cake.

            Rich foods, mainly foods derived from animal products, are tempting. Physically, long term, they harm us, yes, and it wouldn’t be so bad if we were told the truth and could assess them properly and then take responsibility for using them, but the truth is never told about health consequences, nor the extent to which they involve animal misery. Imagine if, just for a start, ads told the truth about the animal-origins of the ingredients:

            “Doughnuts are delicious, inexpensive and available from your nearest store; on the downside, consider the hens who laid the eggs which were used to make your doughnut so fluffy and rich tasting”. 

            Advertising depends on our 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 a support team. Each buyer of goods is supporting a branch of the Animal Industry, an organisation to which one normally wouldn’t give one’s seal of approval. Customers, in deciding to buy their stuff, help to deny animals the support they need from us. By following the crowd we forgo the chance to make a difference.

            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 always fulsomely 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 certain local 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 enjoy the ad and like him for the imprimatur he grants to the products he’s spruiking.