This following PETA advertisement is rather aggressive with the way it attempts to

persuade the audience to not eat meat. PETA has a history of getting a lot of criticism about how

aggressive their ads are. The creator of this ad uses both visuals and written text in order to get

its core message across. The visual acts as an eye-catcher as it takes up almost half of the

advertisement. This advocacy advertisement portrays a chicken pointing a gun at the audience. It

is standing up straight, one “arm” behind its back, with one arm gripping the gun firmly pointing

straight ahead. The picture of the chicken has dramatically big arms and legs in order to make it

look more intimidating. The image is completely black and white and lacks any color, most

likely to indicate that this is a serious topic. The bullet points on the side are pictured as gunshots

on paper. The headline at the top of the advertisement states “if the beef doesn’t kill you, i

might” most likely coming from the chickens point of view as to show that any kind of animal

products are dangerous. This specific sentence is shown in a more dramatic bold font in order to

catch the reader’s attention. Following, the bullet points present facts about the dangers of eating

animal products, however, these are not followed up with sufficient (?) data or evidence to back

them up.

PETA stands for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals and describes itself as the

largest organization fighting for animal rights in the world. Its slogan is ​"Animals are not ours to

eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way."​ ​(​cite this PETA

MISSION STATEMENT)​ ​The goal of the organization​ ​is to stop animal suffering and reach as

wide of an audience as it can with this message. The group, however, has been the focus of

controversy especially recently since the information that PETA euthanizes the majority of

animals which come through the company's doors as they are not able to facilitate all of them
has been made public. Many of the animals which were put down by PETA have been described

as perfectly healthy and adoptable by veterinarians. In fact, PETA has made it public knowledge

that the group is against no-kill shelters. PETA’s advertisements have in the past gotten heavily

criticized in the media for being too aggressive. The “holocaust on your plate” (​find a pic)​ panels

in 2003 caused ​a lot of​ dispute from the public. PETA was censured for comparing the slaughter

(use? Bad wording)​ of animals for production purposes to the holocaust, in which millions of

people died ​(? ?).

The non-profit corporation also received backlash for targeting young audiences. “Your

mommy kills animals” is a comic that came out in 2003. The hand-out asked children to question

how many animals have died for their mothers’ clothing. PETA has been criticized for

publishing their ads in school newspaper which mentioned the dangers of milk consumption.

Some ads that were under fire of the media targeted parents, such as the “has your child got

autism?” ad which linked dairy consumption to autism in newborns. This advertisement

specifically is most likely targeted to a wide audience of adults, which are able to visit their

website or call the listed phone number in order to switch to a vegan lifestyle. As the

advertisement lists potential health risks of animal product consumption, the audience is

presumably most adults, as everyone is concerned about their well being and would like to live a

healthy lifestyle. As non-vegan foods are common and often enjoyed by the majority of the

population, the author is hoping to convince the reader to switch to the vegan lifestyle by

ensuring fear in the audience.

The appeal to kairos in this visual text is seen through a series of evidentiary statements

as a followup to the bolded headline, which claims chicken consumption is bad for human
health. The facts provided are appropriate in that they highlight several indicators of poor health

and link said issues to chicken consumption as well as meat consumption in general. The visual

also has an appropriate balance of humor within what could be considered a somber message. A

chicken-like creature pointing a gun at the reader is equal parts jarring and amusing, and in the

given situation a visual as such effectively lightens the mood. The visual text uses appeal to

emotion in a few ways. First, the chicken holding a (presumably) loaded gun towards the reader

may cause discomfort, fear, or a humorous response depending on the audience. The cartoonized

aspect is mildly disturbing, which only makes the ad more memorable. This ties into the

headline, “If the beef doesn’t kill you, I might” which in itself is threatening, but not overly so as

to push the reader away. Small embellishments make the ad’s emotional impact more cohesive,

such as the bullet holes as bullet points. The use of black and white coloring in the visual text

further dramatize the message, with large, bolded letters. Textual fear-mongering is evident as

well, with a selection of shocking statistics in the graphic. The ethos in this visual text is strongly

linked to the statistics provided in the main body of the image. Credibility is first introduced to

the audience through an invitation to “consider these facts,” followed by a list of statistics. The

credibility of the statistics is amplified through the use of specific phrases, beginning with

information regarding the perspective of ‘experts’. This is followed by a statistic that lends quite

a bit of credibility towards the argument, not only for its’ shock factor but the incredibly high

(95%) amount of chickens with salmonella or other deadly bacteria is common knowledge.

Furthermore, references to research findings linking chicken consumption to diseases asserts that

the argument being made is not purely founded in emotion, but rather a rational perspective that

is empirically backed up. Logos is quite possibly the appeal this graphic relies on most heavily,
with the main body of text being comprised of statistics and information on relevant resources.

The logos used in this text gradually narrow down while becoming more severe, beginning with

expert speculation regarding the disease transmission potential yet providing possible solutions.

Second, evidence of high salmonella transmission rates is addressed. This is followed by the

dangers of cholesterol and meat consumption’s promotion of many diseases, and finally, a

remarkable statement asserting that women who eat meat are more than three times as likely to

get breast cancer. These statistics and facts support the graphic’s argument regarding the dangers

of meat.

(​This advocacy ad comes off as aggressive in its attempt to persuade the audience. The

main goal of this ad is to convince the reader to switch to a vegan lifestyle and stop eating animal

products. It uses all three persuasive techniques - ethos, pathos, and logos - in order to sway the

audience from eating animal products. This advertisement successfully captures the reader's

attention, which leads them to read the bullet points and receive the message that PETA was

hoping to deliver. However, due to the aggressive imagery and lack of sufficient evidence to

support the claims presented in the advertisement, rather than to follow the intended purpose of

the ad, the audience becomes more outraged and the organization receives backlash and criticism

from the media.

The ad uses pathos in order to appeal to the audience’s emotions in a few ways. It mainly

is threatening and unnerving due to the context and the visual presented in the text. This

advertisement also relies on logos heavily as it presents information in the form of bullet points

in the bottom left corner of the image. The heavy use of logos in this ad is also linked to the use
of ethos, as the facts presented make the organization seem more credible in the eyes of the

audience.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an organization that has received

enormous amounts of adverse reactions from the media in the past. Their advertisements in

general have been rather aggressive and rely heavily on pathos in order to appeal to the

audience’s emotions. Whether it be fear, which is the case in this advertisement, or pity for

animals which is shown in many others. ​)