Animal Cruelty Protests Gain Media Attention Missy Chott Comm 393: Senior Portfolio/Senior Thesis Instructor: David Logan
Abstract Many individual people and animal rights organizations all over the world are working towards putting a stop to animal abuse and standing up for what they believe in. Although some people or groups have stronger beliefs than others, they all share one common goal, which is to put an end towards animal cruelty. To help spread the word of their goal, many organizations rely on the media to help spread the word. Some groups use extreme measures to gain free media attention since many of these groups are nonprofit. The review of literature will cover different people and animal rights groups to look at examples of extreme protests that have been done to catch the eye of the media. I would like to use my review of literature to see if going through more extreme measures in animal protests will lead to more media attention. I will also add in my implications as to what I believe will happen in future protests to gain more media attention.
There are many animal rights groups who have strong beliefs when it comes to standing up for the rights of animals. Many will go to the extreme giving live demonstrations, using undercover footage, and even breaking the law to gather more ways to show the public what is happening to animals all over the world today. I will look at different groups all over the world and protests they use to gather media attention. It will also show how media grows. A newspaper article can turn into news coverage, to catching the eye of a celebrity to posts on Facebook, Twitter, and more. It is amazing how fast media is able to spread and the different types that can be used to advertise different protests. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are one of the leading animal rights organizations in the world and have the support of about 3 million members and supporters. PETA believes, “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any way.” PETA really stands up for animals in factory farms, laboratories, the clothing trade, and the entertainment industry. They also try to help domesticated animals and stop the horrible things they go through as well. PETA is always looking to catch the eye of the media to help spread the word of their various different causes. “PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animals rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.” On their website you can see what extreme tactics they use to help stop the abuse towards animals and read their success stories which is helpful to see what differences are being made by them. You can also learn how to get involved with PETA by interning, becoming a member, volunteering, and even working for PETA. Their history section helps you realize where they started and how far along they have come through their organization (PETA: The animal rights organization 1).
PETA must rely on free advertising to help spread the word as much as possible for whatever they are currently protesting. A prime example of one campaign they chose to do was for a fur campaign. PETA does not want people to wear or buy animal fur products so to get media attention they went to the fur campaign nude. The whole idea was that they would rather be nude than wear animal fur. This may seem extreme but if they want to grab the media’s attention and be put in the paper they have to go through extreme measures. Newspapers typically don’t want to put articles about anti-fur believers because they are afraid they will lose money from animal fur companies who want to pay to advertise in the newspaper. PETA members campaigning nude was a headline media could not pass up because of how many readers would be interested in a story like this (PETA sometimes use nudity in its campaigns 1). Several years ago, men and women started the “Naked” Campaign walking nude behind a banner that said “rather go naked than wear fur.” This campaign was to help raise awareness about millions of animals who were trapped, drowned, beaten, and electrocuted just for their fur. As years went on, more “naked” campaigns were being held all over the world and even had some celebrity supporters help out. Christy Turlington, Marcus Schenkenberg, Kim Basinger, designer Todd Oldham, and Pamela Anderson were all famous supporters of the “naked” fur campaigns. The celebrity support has helped gain more attention and this campaign turned out to be a huge success. They have gained media attention in newspapers such as, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post. Media attention didn’t stop there, they also have been featured in magazines and television shows like Us, People, and Entertainment Tonight. Their reviews in media have been positive and they received multiple ways to help stop the use of animal fur products (Would You Rather Go Naked 1).
A human branding protest was scheduled to be held on March 21, 2013. Three volunteers agreed to lie on a street in London. During the protest, the volunteers will be restrained while Becky Folkard, a vegan who works as a successful senior management at a wealth management company will take a four by two inch scolding hot branding tool and hold it against the volunteer’s chest for a few seconds. Becky will wear a mask and a big apron to give off the appearance of someone who would work in a slaughter house. To gain media attention, this event will be held on a public street in London. According to Jo Macfarlane, Becky is “one of a growing number of animal rights activists who are resorting to extreme tactics to make their views known (1).” The demonstration will be held to show what dairy industries used to do to animals before they started using the ear tag, which apparently is no more painful than an ear piercing. Although Folkard is not going to be a volunteer of someone actually being branded, she stated, “If one person goes away and researches a vegan lifestyle because of this it will have been worth it (Macfarlane 1).” Not only is this protest gaining media attention from the public viewing, but they are gaining more by updating their Facebook page (Macfarlane 1). The scheduled event to brand people in London is actually a reenactment of a branding done back on November 1, 2012 in Israel. An uploaded video on Youtube gained nearly 150,000 views in just one week (Smith 1). The protest in London is continuing a chain where they will continue to reenact this protest in cities like Leeds, Washinton DC, Hamburg, Buenos Aires, Melbourne and Prague (Macfarlane 1). The more they do this protest, the more media will start paying attention to this preplanned event. Since the event is being held on public streets and in big cities, it is hard for the media to ignore. There are already articles online talking about the upcoming branding events so that only
leads me to think that there will definitely be reporters, journalists, photographers and other news media covering the events. Another way animal rights activists are gaining media attention is by going to various locations with hidden cameras and filming animal cruelty in the act. Some common undercover filming takes place at agricultural businesses such as dairy, swine and poultry farmers. By secretly filming at these farms, they hope to use the footage they have captured to gain magnificent media coverage. “Since 2005 more than two dozen undercover videos have been released in more than 10 states relating to animal agriculture (Cook 1).” They take the video footage to shock the public of animal cruelty that is going constantly and currently going on. The public starts throwing in their opinion about this issues and it disrupts markets which leads to massive chaos which leads to more media attention. People who film these undercover videos must be careful because agricultural businesses can fight back and they will according to Cook. Some ways these businesses can use precautions start with the interview process. If someone is applying to work in an agricultural business but they have no past experience in other agricultural businesses that could be a sign they are working undercover. Asking that interviewee if they are part of an animal rights group or if they are an animal rights activist is also something good to ask. Cook also states, “In addition, agricultural employers should require all employees to sign a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement which includes a prohibition against taking or distributing photographs or video of any aspect of their employment (Cook 1).” There are other precautions these businesses can take but overall the businesses must be careful and aware that they are a big focus for many animal rights groups and activists to help fight for their beliefs. Some have beliefs so strong, they are not afraid to break the law if it will mean changing the lives of animals and creating public awareness of what these groups will do. In the
documentary film Earthlings, undercover footage was captured and used to exploit businesses that kill animals in an inhumane way. Earlthlings is a very graphic film so I must add that I did not watch the entire documentary. You saw scenes where live animals were packed in a hot, tight trailer for transportation and some animals died on the way there. That was not even a disturbing part compared to some of the filming captured for this documentary. Cows and goats throats were slit and they were hung by their feet until they would bleed out and die. Some of these animals were not even dead when they would precede them to the next step of getting butchered. The portion of the film I watched was mainly on food production. They showed many cruel and graphic scenes, in my opinion to turn more viewers vegetarian. It shows if you eat meat from slaughter houses, this is what the animal had to do for you to be able to consume that meat. They also featured dogs in a kill animal shelter. These shelters do not have enough money to feed or house these dogs so after a certain period of time they must kill these dogs. Some of these dogs were killed in gas chambers. The most humane way to kill an animal in an animal shelter is by using Euthasol. The animal will die almost instantly and feel nothing; this is not the most affordable which is why many shelters do use the gas chambers on these animals. Not only did the producers of this film use graphic undercover footage, but they also used devastating facts. Every year, nearly 25 million animals become homeless. Of this 25 million, 9 million die on the streets from disease, starvation, exposure, injury, or other various hazards on that occurred on the street. The last 16 million animals die in shelters and pounds that cannot afford to keep them there. What shocked me the most was the fact that nearly 50% of animals brought into these shelters are brought in by their own caretakers (Earthlings. Dir. Shaun Monson). This film is really good at opening viewer’s eyes to show that neglect is almost as bad
as what happens in the slaughter houses. Many of those animals will die and not in a painless way. These animals have no way of sticking up for themselves so animal right activists rely on the media to help show the world the tragedies of these animals lost lives. Many activists have stated that many people are unaware of what is happening to animals today still. Showing undercover footage is a good reality check for many people who are unaware of how brutal and inhumanly animals are being treated. Based off my review of literature, I found that many animal rights groups and people who are sticking up for their beliefs to end animal cruelty have to go to extreme measures to make headlines in the media. Many of these groups use live demonstrations performing the same tasks that are done on animals to humans instead. When people see what happens to animals on a person they think it is extremely horrifying and terrible. Many people are unaware of what is really happening to animals today. In the live demonstrations, many people tend to think that their protest is pretty extreme to prove a point but the volunteers who give the performance want to show that animals are still living through that nightmare. They have no chance to stand up for them to put an end. Live presentations tend to be preplanned and since they are so extreme, photographers, journalists, reporters, the news, the public, and often times celebrities will support these protests which only makes media coverage expand through Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and so much more. I also found that if these protests are not extreme it will be hard for them to make headlines in the Newspaper. The example I found was for a fur campaign called the “Naked� campaign. Walking the streets nude is a protest that will be covered by media because people will talk about it. If they did not protest nude then Newspapers
would not put that campaign in the headlines in fear that fur companies will not pay them to advertise their products. Hidden footage is probably one of the most effective ways to gather media attention. This unedited footage straight from slaughter houses, kill shelters, factory farms and more. The narrator for the film Earthlings, Joaquin Phoenix said, “Of all the films I have ever made, this is the one that gets people talking the most. For every one person who sees Earthlings, they will tell three.” The more people talk about something the faster it will spread to the media. A lot of times in media you will see reporters will often say what is being done to animals are similar to the holocaust. It is many times called the ‘Animal Holocaust’ in many headlines. I think this is because we have all learned at some point in history how horrific the holocaust was and to relive it in any way is completely unbearable to think about. The thought that what is being done to animals is similar to what was done to people is a thought that really impacts peoples beliefs on what is right and wrong. My implications based off my research are that animal rights protests are going to continue to be extreme and protesters will always look for the new extreme. I think it will not be a huge shock to hear that protesters will start taking their own lives while giving demonstrations because many of these animal rights protester’s goals is to reach out to as many people as they can. They want people to start seeing animals as equals and if they are going to kill them for human purposes they want to show there are more humane ways of doing so. Matt Ball and Jack Norris believe animals are equal to humans. They state “Many say that humans deserve rights while animals do not because humans have a greater level of certain characteristics: humans are more intelligent, creative, aware, technologically advanced, dominant able to use language, able
to enter into contracts, able to make moral choices, etc. Thus, humans deserve rights because they have a greater degree of these characteristics (Ball Norris 36).� Protesters will continue to use the media to promote their cause. They need to convince a large population what is happening is wrong to change their views. Many animal rights activists will be satisfied if they can change the mind of one person throughout their entire protest. The more extreme the more people will talk and that can help spread the word to others who were not at the protest as well. Media is all over the place and these animal rights activists are using them to their full advantage. It is easy to say that when it comes to sticking up for your own personal beliefs, there are no limits.
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"Would You Rather Go Naked? | PETA.org." People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): The animal rights organization | PETA.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.