
PETA, an organization that focuses on the ethical treatment of animals.  It is the largest organization of its kind throughout the world.  PETA often funds advertisements to supports its efforts, like the one claiming that chicken meat and beef is detrimental to the health of humans.  In the advertisement, it shows a large vile chicken holding a gun towards the viewer, with capitol bold letters claiming: "IF THE BEEF DOESN'T KILL YOU, I MIGHT". (PETA)  These are the two attention grabbers in the advertisement, positioned at the top is the text, and the chicken taking up the entire right portion of the picture.  In many advertisements from PETA, there is an ultimatum presented in attempt to alarm the viewer.  In another advertisement published by the organization, it depicts a child smoking a cigarette, and in bold letters is states that like smoking, eating meat increases the risk of heart disease and cancer.  This is an extreme attempt to grab someone's attention, a scare tactic at its best.  Both of these PETA advertisements are there to shock the audience into siding with the conveyed viewpoint of the organization.  Many organizations use this tactic to express their views, PETA being one of them.  Advertisements use potent tools to persuade audiences to either agree or support the purpose of an organization, this propaganda can range from subtle messages to fierce scare tactics such at the one PETA has published about chicken meat, and this is why the use of imagery is such a powerful tool in visual texts.  

The advertisement published by PETA, was a means to scare the population with the growing dangers associated with eating chicken meat.  The text states that eating such foods will equate to the death of the consumer.  The formation of the advertisement is alike many others, two main focal points, and few bits of real information audiences are obligated to read after viewing the focal points.  Both focal points, being that of the large diseased looking chicken, and the bold lettering at the top.  The chicken itself looks terrifying, thus helping convey the idea that chicken meat is harmful to the human body.  Along with the missing feathers and fat stomach of the chicken, it is holding a large revolver pointed at the audience.  It seems as if PETA is trying to have a "stick up", making the viewer come to a quick rash decision based on their immediate reaction to the advertisement.  When looking at this picture for the first time, my eyes were drawn to the chicken, then the gun, then the bold lettering.  This leads me to quickly reflect that both beef and chicken meat could cause the end of a life.  After the initial reaction, the audience's eyes will move down to the descriptive bullet points, which state numerous 'facts' about how these two meats can cause cancer, heart disease, and salmonella infection.  

The visual aspects of this image include bold lettering, an image of a large diseased chicken, and detailed bullet points.  When first viewing the advertisement, the viewer's eyes start at the chicken, and follow a scan path of a capitol G, as the next stop is the bold lettering, then going down to the bullet points, then back to the chicken.  This is how most advertisements are designed, for the viewer to follow a pattern that is most effective in establishing the argument.  If the design of the advertisement was augmented, the message might be not as effective.  The chicken would not be as memorable if it was positioned behind the text.  The argument that PETA is presenting is that consumption of animal meat is detrimental to the human body, causing heart disease, cancer, obesity, and other negative results from eating these meats.  The chicken is the most effective tool of this advertisement.  After completing the G scan path, it could be concluded that the chicken's appearance is one of disease and bad health.  The chicken is humanoid in the image, holding the gun pointed at the audience.  By being human in stature, one can assume that the condition of the chicken is the result of humans eating the chicken meat.  With that, it is inferred that if humans continue eating chicken and beef, they will end up sick and ill.   When looking closer at the image, specifically at the points in the bottom left side, it is apparent that every blip of information has a bullet hole beside it.  PETA has made bullet points into literal device, only strengthening the argument of meats being deadly to consume.  

The use of text in the advertisement is also a powerful tool used by PETA.  The bold lettering lining the top of the ad immediately articulates the intended message.  When viewing this image, the viewer eyes the chicken then looks to the text for clarification of its meaning.  When reading the bold lettering "If the beef doesn't kill you, I might" (PETA), it brings the image into focus and truly demonstrates the purpose of the advertisement.  After this, the bullet points below describe the necessary information to finally convince the audience to support PETA's message.  One of the bullet points directs its message to women specifically:  "Women who eat meat daily are more than three times as likely to get breast cancer than those who eat little or no meat".  (PETA) This quote describes PETA's desperate attempt to persuade women to become stay away from meats completely.  When latching on to the controversial topic of breast cancer, it adds to the fear factor of the message based on the fact that every female knows the dangers of the deadly disease.  

The advertisement published by PETA is one of many that uses scare tactics to convince an audience to believe that meats consumed can lead to serious and deadly health risks.  It is known that PETA is a nonprofit organization, and their use of advertisements have been controversial.  Most of the points on the advertisement are debatable, and blown out of proportion without question.  The scare tactics are effective, but most of the advertisement is an exaggeration of facts.  This is apparent in most advertisements; it only makes sense to make a claim that will captivate the viewer.  The tools used by advertisers vary, but all aim to reach one goal, to pull audience members closer to the company's viewpoints.  These methods are effective, but especially controversial in this example used by PETA.  

