Is it always good when adverts influence people?

Hello again,
so, it's been a while since my last blog entry but here I am again. todays topic is an unusual glance into the ethics of advertising - not the race debate, gender divide or how sex may or may not sell topics but another more quirky thought.

Is advertising risking animal welfare?

The main reason I came to think about this was that someone made a comment a while back about a news story regarding a meerkat being stolen from a zoo. Having left this thought sitting the the back of my mind for a while I have noticed more and more that various products surrounding Aleksandr Orlov from the Compare the Market adverts, both official and other meerkat toys etc. The trigger that sent me back to this thought and now to writing this blog was our uni art shop using their very own meerkat as a prize to help launch there social media presence.

Can you spot the real one?

Anyway, back to the original seed. This is the original story about the meerkat being stolen - and here is the back up story of when it was found.

So what is my point? Well, in reality I am on the fence in this debate. I neither wish that animals are banned from being used in commercials nor do I think this subject can be ignored. This story is really the tip of the iceberg and although it is so hard to prove that adverts have a direct impact on peoples views on what pets to own, you cant deny that a sudden increase in meerkats wanted for pets is completely coincidental. Whilst here I should probably add that the RSPCA say that meerkats are totally unsuitable to keep as pets. This link for a daily mail article will give you a bit more information on the trend for meerkats as pets should you want to know a little more. I suppose what I really want to be saying is that thought needs to be given when constructing these campaigns (more those which are intended to run over long periods or have a animal as their centre character, especially if they are personifying animals) to make considerations meaning the audience does not think that it promotes, justifies or rationalises any form of move towards pet ownership of animals such as a meerkat.  Another story here says about how a penguin was stolen from a zoo and the keepers were worried it was as a christmas present following the release of the film 'March of the Penguins'. Do people really make links between what they see in the media and a criminal act to get one as a gift or has this just been taken out of context?

An adult Red River Hog

On the brighter side social media can be used for positive results in regards to animal welfare, and this time with much more quantifiable results. This article marks the success of the 'Save the Hogs' campaign which aimed to stop Edinburgh Zoo from culling 'surplus' rare breed piglets. Although spread across various media platforms the site with the main influence was twitter, the campaign started was by @onekindtweet, One Kind being a major animal protection charity, and carried on by many others using the #savethehogs hashtag. One Kind records on its blog here about the online campaign and its soon following triumph.

This is the point, having finished on a lighter note, that I try to conclude what I have said, say something really poignant and leave with grace and dignity....However I can't, not with this topic, really its over to you, draw your own opinions - does advertising take animal depiction too far and should they be held responsible for trends which could effect animal welfare, should VCCP (the creators or the Compare the Market campaign) or indeed Compare the market themselves be looking to stop the campaign in light of potential trend setting for meerkats as pets, does the media balance itself out with good news stories eventually, or should the public just take things with a pinch of salt and start thinking for themselves. Maybe a cocktail of all of it...you decide.