PETA again using scantily-clad women to make its point

by Ellen Slattery, Posted Jan 17th 2008 @ 4:00PM

As a company, once you find a marketing strategy that works, you usually stick with it. Nike had the swoosh, milk has the mustaches, and PETA? Well, they have naked women.

Over the years, PETA has used women celebs like Alicia Silverstone, Eva Mendes, and Cindy Crawford to encourage the masses not to wear fur or eat meat. And while they've gotten a lot of flak, they continue to pay women to drop trou for the good of the animals.

Today in Philadelphia, PETA's "lettuce ladies" (women wearing little more than lettuce-shaped undergarments) will be handing out soy turkey sandwiches to promote the company's "Turn over a new leaf: go vegetarian" campaign.

A few points that should be noted, here: PETA rarely uses men to advertise its messages. It did use MTV Jackass' Steve-O, who was nude, but the ad a) only showed his backside and b) was quite obviously in jest, poking fun at the typical oversexed PETA model and keeping in vein with the show's brand of humor. Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix have also done commercial spots for the organization - fully clothed. Somehow, I wonder if the effectiveness of the message is lost when we're too busy ogling Pam Anderson's generous chest to worry about what she's promoting.

Now, I'm all for soy products, either as meat replacements or as an addition to a healthy diet. Isn't it fascinating how, in campaigning to stop exploiting one living thing, another is exploited in its place? Maybe PETA should stop pointing its fingers at others for a second and turn the magnifying glass on itself.

Food for thought.

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Filed Under: Trends, On the Blogs, Ingredients
Tags: ad, ad campaign, AdCampaign, advertisement, Alicia Silverstone, AliciaSilverstone, america, campaign, celebrity, Eva Mendes, EvaMendes, fur, Jackass, lettuce, lettuce ladies, LettuceLadies, lunch, meat, milk, MTV, naked, Nike, Pam Anderson, PamAnderson, PETA, Philadelphia, Philly, soy, Steve-O, swoosh, vegetables

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Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)

1-18-2008 @9:32PM Simon Arch said... Well, you know what they say: sex sells. Unfortunately for PETA I can find naked women aplenty online, and without the agenda.

Of course, by talking about it we only encourage this sort of abusive behaviour. The best thing to do with PETA (and other extremist groups of their ilk, like Greenpeace) is to ignore them. Eventually, if nobody pays attention to them they'll at least change tactics, even if they'll never go away.
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1-23-2008 @10:48AM angelina said... Simon,
It sounds lucky for you that you can find naked women online, because I have the feeling you couldn't find them otherwise.