The latest anti-wool advertisement by animal liberation activists is a big budget marketing campaign aimed at eliciting shock and guilt from an ignorant audience.
This is according to Narelle Lancaster, lecturer and PHD student in the school of media and communication at RMIT University, Victoria, who said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ anti-wool campaign used one of the longest-running and sexiest stunts known in the advertising industry.
The international and social media campaign features The Real Housewives of Miami cast member Joanna Krupa, who stands naked and includes the slogan: “Wool: The Naked Truth. There’s nothing warm and cuddly about wool”.
In the image, Krupa, who appears bruised and bloodied, holds a fake lamb which is also battered.
Ms Lancaster said the campaign used a naked celebrity to capture viewers’ attention together with videos of animal cruelty aimed at shaming consumers into change.
“They are a well-oiled organisation, not a couple of random kids doing a YouTube video, this is an organisation with strategy and technique, with a big budget producing finely executed strategic campaigns,” she said.
“People on the receiving end don’t know where (wool) comes from so if someone tells you something and it looks bad, that there is abuse and you should get up and make a stand, maybe people will.
“Advertising can be very persuasive and effective and can result behavioural change.”
Ms Lancaster compared the anti-wool campaign, which urges viewers to boycott the fibre for synthetic materials, to the powerful and successful shock-factor ads by the Transport Accident Commission to reduce road casualties.
Despite the anti-wool YouTube clip reaching 3.2 million viewers, Ms Lancaster said woolgrowers should not be concerned about the PETA campaign’s damage.
“Maybe it is time to create a response, that is not knee-jerk, but reveals a better understanding of the industry and shows the implications to these campaigns,” she said.
In reaction to the campaign, founder of Rural Miss blog, Gemma Lee Steere, shared an image of her hugging a freshly shorn sheep to her 21,000 followers.
The image reached more than 500,000 people and was shared nearly 3000 times in one day.
Ms Steere, who runs a merino and crossbred flock at Boyup Brook, Western Australia, said the strongest form of industry defence was through promotion and awareness.
“(The image) insinuated domestic violence which I find appalling and insulting to shearers, farmers, roustabouts, shed hands and the entire industry,” she said.
“What is apparent to me is that there are a lot of people that are uninformed and uneducated as to what goes into growing wool and the shearing industry.
“We can’t ignore it so we need to hit their foulness with truth – the truth will have an impact on people because if we don’t react, people will believe their lies.”
Ms Steere established her online blog three years ago to promote the beauty of agriculture, however was used as an industry advocate site when industry organisations chose to be silent on important issues.
“It puts fire in my belly,” she said.
“It is about putting truth out there and educating people - it makes you feel responsible when you have such a huge audience that you can reach, I wonder whether I should be doing more.
“If a blogger can reach that many people, those bigger industry organisations have to do something too.”
In a statement, WoolProducers Australia chief executive Jo Hall called the ad “deceitful and misrepresentative” of the usual practice of shearing.
“The addition of a supposedly beaten naked woman only adds to the distasteful nature of this organisation,” Ms Hall said.
PETA Australia’s Campaign Coordinator Claire Fryer said shearers were paid by yield instead of by the hour, encouraging careless work and leaving little consideration for the animal’s welfare.
“Ads like this appeal to people’s compassion and drive them to do more research, which inevitably results in people swearing off wool,” Ms Fryer said.
“With great vegan alternatives such as cotton blends, acrylic knits, rayon, polyester fleece and synthetic shearling, there is no need for anyone to wear wool.”
