Monday, March 10, 2008

Save the________. (Fill in the blank.)

This comercial caught my attention the other day because of the animals being abused. I stopped and watched it all the way to the end. I grew up in farm country and have seen my share of animals being mauled or killed. I know the value of having a good dog and support the ethical treatment of animals, but this commercial in my opinion is going to far. Michael Vick opened the door for discussion of animal cruelty and organizations like PETA and BC SPCA are taking full advantage of the attention.

Application in my class would include a comparison of this commercail for animals with the comercials for "save the children" or for "pennies a day" slogans. I called the post save the (blank, you fill in the rest) because this commercial is like many other commercials where we see starving children playing in a garbage pile. It has become the template for the "guilt the audince into action". I find this template very manipulative. No one wants to see suffering, especially kids, kittens, or puppies. I don't appreciate slogans that can swap kids for kittens. John Stossel, of ABC News, reported on verbal and physical abuse and said "if word are like bullets, then whats stopping us from answering words with bullets". I understand Stossel's comment as there is a difference between words and bullets, and my kids, and kittens.
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