For kids, going to a circus is nothing less than a treat. It doesn’t get any better than sitting in a large arena with family, enjoying good food, watching monkeys juggle, lions who can jump through hoops of fire and seeing elephants dance. Going to the circus has been one of the most popular family activities for centuries. It is a way for the family to spend time together while kids watch their favorite animals participate in crazy tricks. What many, especially kids, don’t realize is what goes on behind the scenes for a circus to come together. These animals aren’t born with the ability to jump through hoops; in fact, it takes years to master. An hour of enjoyment takes away the freedom and happiness of an animal for a lifetime. The advertisement entitled “Animals Are Not Clowns” uses textual and visual evidence to show the audience that circuses are a form of animal cruelty; they are inhumane and go against moral values solely to provide entertainment. 

The advertisement uses the combination of a visual and descriptive text to argue that circuses support animal cruelty. A monkey is depicted as a clown behind bars that creates an overall dark and negative mood. The bright colors that resemble a clown on the monkey’s face draws the viewer to the middle of the image. Here, the viewer can see the tear and the frown painted on the monkey’s face to show how the animal is suffering. In front of the face are steel bars that emphasize the idea that animals involved in circuses are so restricted it resembles being imprisoned. Shown next to the face is text that mimics the tone of a ringmaster. This aspect of the advertisement is very powerful because it puts the reader in the perspective of the animal. The advertisement reads, “Role up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls for the crack of the whip against the animal’s stinging wounds…the injuries and the electric shock” (Animals Are Not Clowns). While the audience cheers and enjoys themselves, the animals are abused and forced to comply to the ringmaster. These characteristics of the advertisement come together to create a dark and depressing mood that elicits the feeling of guilt. Guilt is created by not only the monkey who is clearly in pain, but also the sense of mockery that the text creates. “Laugh, applaud and join in with the repetitive choreographed routines typical of depressed animals under great stress” (Animals Are Not Clowns), emphasizes the idea that the audience is too naive to realize that they are witnessing the torture of innocent animals.  

The overarching purpose of this advertisement is to defend the rights that animals should have and to help the audience realize that circuses are a cruel way for people to enjoy themselves. The most prominent rhetorical appeal used to achieve this is pathos. To communicate the purpose, the author must connect with the audience on an emotional level. The idea of a monkey behind bars automatically elicits a negative mood. It is also important to note that the animal used for this ad is a monkey, and monkeys are closet to the human race. This creates negative emotion because the animal closet to humans genetically are treated so poorly entirely for entertainment. The text within the ad evokes an emotional response as well because it creates a disturbing image within the mind of the viewer. The ad describes these circus animals as “human caricatures”, saying that they are being forced to participate in human-like activities, which they were not born to do. The bottom of the advertisement appeals to ethos and the credibility of the author because the logos of the two companies that produced the ad are shown. It gives credibility because the two organizations behind this advertisement are well-known defendants of animals rights. The style of this argument is informal because it is based on emotions and moral values rather than an argument with concrete evidence. The style focuses on creating positive ideas into negative ones to show the physical and emotional damage that circuses have on animals. The advertisement contains sentences that are simple in structure but also satirical because it is attempting to mock the audience. The appeals and style that the ad uses come together to prove to the audience that circuses are cruel towards the animals. 

Behind this advertisement are two well-known Portuguese companies who are very involved in the animal rights community. As shown on the advertisement itself, the two companies who produced this ad are the LPDA (Portuguese League for Animals Rights) and Acção Animal. These two organizations focus on the rights of animals by creating visual advertisements that depict how poorly animals can be mistreated by humans. From this, it is obvious that their target audience is not only those who attend circuses, but furthermore those who force animals to participate in activities that they are not meant to do. These companies attempt to create powerful advertisements to help people realize how cruel humans can be to animals without noticing. A common theme among the advertisements produced by these organizations involves putting the viewer in the animal’s perspective. Ads produced by these companies became popular because the topic of animal cruelty was well-known in the early 2000’s. This advertisement specifically was produced in 2007, which is significant because in 2006, the Animal Welfare Act was passed. The animal rights movement gained popularity from this act because it states that, “It is a criminal offense to harm a protected animal” (In Brief). Following the implementation of this act, the topic of animal cruelty became more popular and well-known because events, like circuses, tend to be borderline abusive for the animals. This shows that the author created the “Monkeys Are Not Clowns” ad in 2007 to further support this movement because it was a good time to publish while the movement had significant attention.  

The advertisement “Monkeys Are Not Clowns” uses a symbolic visual combined with descriptive text to show the perspective of an animal apart of a circus. A line that stands out in the ad states, “Don’t be apart of the show” (Animals Are Not Clowns). This brings together the message and purpose of the advertisement. The author created this ad to emphasize that the “show” put on is simply forcing animals to do outrageous activities that they are not meant to do, which is animal cruelty. By not supporting these events that take away the rights of animals, like a circus, the viewer is able to be an active participatnt in the animal rights movement. 
