Wild Card - Ethics Case Studies

Two Wrongs don't make a Right.

As we live in an age of social media, it is second hand to tweet, post, and share everything we agree or disagree with, but how ethical are individual campaigns? Each day companies are posting articles or putting up billboards to launch their newest effort, but how far is too far? PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, pump out new adds every week, encouraging the public to avoid eating animal products or wear furs to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, animals.

PETA's advertisement technique is aggressive, and to the point, oftentimes, they may even come across as harsh or possibly... unethical. In 2003, PETA released a campaign known as "Holocaust on Your Plate." This advertisement compares "the slaughter of animals to the murder of six million Jews in WWII." In fact, "the idea for the effort came from the late Nobel Prize-winning author Issac Bashevis Singer, who wrote: 'In relation to them (animals], all people are Nazis, for them it is an eternal Treblinka' - a death camp in Poland." (https://www.spj.org/ecs14.asp) The campaign shows scenes of animals in slaughterhouses in comparison to images of Nazi concentration camps, a horrific sight.

Upon the release of this campaign, many felt disgusted and angered by what PETA had compared. A year after its release, The Central Council of Jews in Germany sued for the attack, but it took five years even to get the images banned. Another three years later, the vote was upheld, and the images were banned for good. PETA argued their rights of freedom of speech and even revealed a Jewish PETA member supported the campaign. However the Jewish community still raged about the campaign. Arguments stemmed from the fact that it has never been okay to use real historical tragedies as a symbol in an case. If this campaign isn't unethical, I don't know what it.

Although you may think that backlash on an advertisement such as this would tell PETA to stop, you would be wrong. Since then, PETA has released multiple ads that have displayed nudity as a tactic to draw attention. In 2009, Joanna Krupa posed completely nude holding a cross as cover in a campaign stating "Be an Angel for Animals, Always Adopt Never Buy". The catholic community lashed out at her racy use of a crucifix and even a rosary in the advertisement, stating it was an unethical use of their religion. Just as they had done with their lawsuit in 2004, PETA simply defended themselves with freedom of speech; however, that makes it no less unethical overall.

Over the years, PETA has been known to push the limits and make quite a few people mad. Multiple campaigns such as the "Holocaust on your plate" and "Be an Angel for Animals, Always Adopt Never Buy" have brought for the question of ethics in advertising. Some of these cases have been taken to court, requiring PETA to take down these questionable advertisements, but most are left untouched. While they are not brought forth as an actual legal battle, the battle of ethics still stands, and people will always speak their minds. So when it comes to topics such as these, the question lies, do you feel its ethical?