Ugly Side of Fashion

Background

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is the largest animal rights organisation in the world with more than two million members and supporters.

In Malaysia, they wanted to dramatise one of the areas in which the largest number of animals suffer, which is in the fashion business. To show a fashion-crazy audience the ugly side of glamour.

Idea

To show a fashion-crazy audience the ugly side of glamour, posters were created showing fictitious high-fashion products being sold at ‘amazing prices’ because if there’s one thing that trendy Asians love more than the latest styles, it’s a bargain.

Each product had an accompanying barcode that had to be scanned with a smart-phone to reveal the price.  However, when the barcode was scanned, the shoppers were shown a video of the animal that was tortured and killed to create that product. Each interaction revealed the ‘true cost’ of what shoppers all too often buy without thinking.

Pamela Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix added their voices on the video in support of the campaign.

Results

The campaign ran as 12-sheet posters on bus shelters nationwide. In just the first week, the barcodes were scanned over 12,000 times and the posters moved out into social media with significant blog coverage, media reports and traffic to the PETA website, thus leading to increased awareness of Cruelty-Free Shopping alternatives.

Our Thoughts

The trouble with shock tactics is the more shocking the image or the video, the less successful the ad. Viewers simply don’t want to know. That said, this works well, I think, because it doesn’t confront people with ‘the true cost’ of their leather goods but suckers them into discovering it. A very different experience.

The posters set up a set of expectations – shallow and selfish - and then dash them by showing how the bargain-hunter’s thoughtlessness leads to cruelty and suffering. Guilt rather than horror. Much more effective.