In class lab: textual analysis

In class Lab: Textual Analysis

1.       Who published these ads?

The ads are published by different animal rights groups such as PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals), Freedom for animals, and Mercy for animals, and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  These are all humanitarian groups that fight cruelty to animals such as testing of beauty products on animals, fashion designers using animal fur in clothing and the treatment of animals in butchering from large grocery chains like Walmart.

2.       Who are these texts intended for?

They are intended for all the consumers.  I believe they are intended to educate consumers on where the products that they value so much are coming from and who or what is being abused to get them.  In these articles it is talking about cruel animal treatments to provide consumers with their favorite products. I think a lot of consumers are unaware or ignorant of how their favorite clothing styles or beauty products are created. So these texts are there to make consumers aware and hopefully help them change what they are using and fight for animal rights.

3.       How can we tell that?

The slogans on the ads are a clear sign of what the ads are trying to communicate. The very first ad is a picture of a famous actor and a dog and the slogan says “If you wouldn’t wear your dog….please don’t wear any fur” and then it has the PETA logo at the bottom of the ad, which is a well know animal rights support group.  That makes it very obvious of what they are trying to say and who they are trying to say it to.

4.       What is the purpose of these texts? What are their creators wanting to change or make happen?

They are trying to educate consumers on what their most valued products are made of and how they are made, through cruel treatment to animals. They want to show the general public that it is not made without some kind of harm. They want to get people to start doing research on what their products are made of and start using food that is organic from companies that do not abuse the animals to get their food, fancy clothes or beauty products.  They would like the consumer to start buying products that are not tested on animals.

5.       How do they seem to be working toward that purpose? What beliefs and values do they address?

The third ad, that says “do you support cruelty to animals, Walmart does” has a website walmartcruelty.com on the ad. I went to that website and the home page has a video of a bunch of men beating pigs with large hammers, throwing things at them like pieces of the gates. It has them in tiny, crammed up dirty pens where they can hardly move.  I watched part of the video, I could not watch it all the way through without getting nauseous and heartbroken.  The video is hard to watch, but it is necessary to show that to people who may be ignorant of how animals are treated at butchering farms. I think they are using those videos to turn consumers away from buying meat from places like that and encourage maybe spark emotions in the consumers that will help the animal rights activists fight companies who allow animals to be abused for this kind of use. The ad with the puppy carrying a ball using the dog’s name and stating “I am waiting to love you” sparks emotion in consumers with statements like that and the publishers (ASPCA) of that ad are using that to encourage people to adopt animals instead of buying from breeding farms and to educate consumers on laws and bills that need to be passed or fought for fair treatment of animals.

6.       What evidence from the texts (images, phrases, etc.) can you provide to support your answers?

The first ad has an image of an attractive famous actor that will immediately draw interest from some of his fan base and makes the statement “If you wouldn’t wear your dog. Please don’t wear any fur” which personalizes it for people who have their own animals. The second ad Shows a picture of a model with animal fur on her head next to her really pretty, well groomed hair and the comment on that one says “For luxuriant hair this is how 300,000 lab animals suffer each year” this educates consumers that the beauty products they love are texted on animals and are harmful to animals, and that they should use organic products that are not tested on animals. The third add is of a pig behind bars with the slogan “do you support animal cruelty, Walmart does” and then has a website that shows the animals being beaten.  This educates us on the treatment of our food at butcher farms. All of these are meant to get a reaction out of the consumer about some of their favorite products.

7.       Can you come up with a statement that would indicate what the ads do as a group?

The ads, as a group, are meant to educate, without being sensitive to how they do it.  They are working to educate consumers on all the ways that cruelty to animals is tied in with our favorite products. I believe they hope to get consumers to switch products to ones that don’t test animals or mistreat and help fight back against the companies that do.