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Abstract

This essay explores the ideological motivations behind PETA's 2003 vegetarian billboard campaign "Holocaust on Your Plate." The campaign's argument is dissected into a theoretical framework built on controversy, moral shock, confrontation, and oppositional argument. The more abstract cultural choices behind PETA's Holocaust billboards are further understood through rhetorical analysis, particularly focusing on visual messages of audience segregation (choosing sides), the transfer of guilt, and equal suffering between animals and humans. This essay concludes that PETA was successful in its aim to create new dialogue on the issue of animal rights with regard to the food industry.

Journal Title

Iowa Journal of Communication

Volume

39

Issue

2

First Page

135

Last Page

144

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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