| This postcard is
the result of my outrage at an advertisement developed
by Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for their Fur is
Dead campaign. Mindbogglingly, Peta is exploiting the fears and self-consciousness
which many women feel about their bodies, using exactly the same marketing
tactics that a designer furrier would use in your average fashion mag.
It is appalling to me that any organization is content to spread the message
that if your body doesn't conform to some consumerism-induced, alienating
standard of beauty, you will not be loved; But it is especially disheartening
when an organization who is devoted to protecting animals (arguably the
most oppressed group in the world) sees fit to capitalize on the weaknesses
of an only slightly less oppressed group just to get their point across.
But anger brings action, and in these days of the World Wide Web and inexpensive printing, even a poor artist can do a little advertising. So I decided to launch the Artist for the Ethical Treatment of Humans campaign. My original idea was to closely parody the peta ad. But then I realized two things. One, not many people seemed to know the ad, and two, the peta ad didn't matter anyway! Crummy advertising is everywhere! This series of postcards will not only be sent out by e-mail, but are also being placed, surreptitiously, in go-card displays --those free postcard dispensers in your local bar or cafe-- in any major city I can get to. So far they have been "distributed" in London, San Francisco, Toronto, New York, Montreal, Amsterdam and Lintz. It's my own small way of just saying no.
stf |
