Running head: ANIMAL TESTING

Analyzing Different Genres in the Fight Against Animal Testing

Gabrielle M. Velasquez
University of Texas El Paso

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There are different approaches to getting the attention of an audience,

ranging from articles in newspapers to posters, and ad campaigns. Many
times these approaches are aimed to bring attention to many social issues.
Animal testing is one of these issues; PETA is one of the main groups that
voice their opinion to the public about this issue through typography, which
includes articles, and iconography, such as posters. PETA believes that
animal testing is inhumane, torturous to animals, also deemed it
unnecessary because it is basically bad science.
Audience
PETA has targeted a general audience of people from both genders,
ranging from the age of seventeen and older. This is mainly because at the
age of seventeen is when kids start to become opinionated about everything
as well as this is the time where kids become more aware of personal
appearance. Through the use of the lipstick it would seem as though it were
aimed at only women that use beauty products such as these but in reality it
is only used to capture the attention of others. The information presented in
the poster is very minimal, yet it gets the opinion across. The person would
probably spend a solid sixty seconds comprehending this image, until they
understand the whole concept of the photo.
PETA also has articles that relate to the same topic, which is ending
animal testing. This article is also aimed at the same audience just through a
different approach to presenting the information. This is geared towards an
audience that is probably older as well as more likely to read up on the

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issues they are against. The audience for this type of approach on the
subject will spend more time with the information at hand. This is because in
this article it is giving the typical statements supporting animal testing, as
well as the counter argument to each of the statements.
The difference between the two genres aimed at tackling the same
topic would be the type of audience each is geared towards. In the
iconography, the audience is more towards a general younger audience in
order to capture the attention of people. While in the typography it is geared
towards more of an intellectual older audience, where after the attention has
already been caught with the poster, now, is when all the information comes
in and gives the reader a better understanding of the topic. They are also in
a way the same because the audience and purpose of using these two
separate genres is to relate to a greater audience than just people involved
in PETA, it is used to be informative, draw people in and inform them of the
issue.
Rhetorical Issues
PETA uses this poster as a type of iconographic genre, PETA stands for
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and this poster uses ethos,
pathos and logos to get in touch with the reader. PETA uses ethos in this
poster because the organization has become a well-known corporation,
known for their outspoken voice against animal cruelty, which gives credit to
this photo. PETA itself is its own credible source because they have gained
credit from the public for going above and beyond for the rights of animals.

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They did in a way use emotional appeal, which is the pathos, by saying to
people that they would technically have blood on their hands if they used
products that were tested on animals, because no one wants to have
another's blood on their hands. Through the same token, it is also using the
logos in the same way as the pathos, because logically speaking, no person
really wants to be the reason for the cruelty of innocent animals just for the
benefit of beauty.
Through the use of typography, the article, PETA use ethos by
concentrating on the ethics of their audience. This article is using many
different approaches to the topic of animal testing so that it's not just a one
sided argument. This gives credibility to the author because it shows that the
author is not just saying, "No! Animal testing is wrong", rather, the author is
hearing out every different argument to justify animal testing and giving
reasons for it to be stopped. They use pathos by appealing to the emotions
of the reader, convincing the reader that animal testing is bad because the
animals suffer throughout all the experiments. They use logos by giving
logical reasons as to why animal testing is not as useful as people might
think. For example in the article it is stated that "Studies published in
prestigious medical journals have shown time and again that animal
experimenters are often wasting livesboth animal and humanand
precious resources by trying to infect animals with diseases that they would
never normally contract."(PETA)
These two genres are both the same because they use the three

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rhetorical issues, ethos, pathos and logos. They conquer every aspect of the
human psyche by relating to the emotional side of a person, the mental,
more logical side of a person. The difference between these two genres is the
approach of how the genres came across. In the typography it was more
revolved around ethos and logos, while in the iconography, the use of pathos
was more prevalent.
Structure and Delivery
The image uses a woman putting on lipstick but it looks as though it is
bleeding down from her lips, it is the largest part of the image; which is
important to the presentation because it brings you to read the words on the
side. In order for the poster to convey its message the message itself "End
Animal Testing" was in the largest letters compared to other words. This is
important to iconography because it gets the point across quickly, it does not
provide an overwhelming amount of information and the image catches the
eye and makes everyone want to read what this picture is for. It is appealing
to the eye and the image itself flows to where the eyes just glide over it and
nothing is choppy to a point where it is visually disturbing.
The way that this article was set up was great to getting straight to the
point; everything was separated into the different statements and counter
arguments. The delivery was also good because it was not just opinionated
by the author but it also gave informative information that was based on
facts. It was also visually appealing because it was not just a bunch of words
and information crammed into one large paragraph; rather, it was many

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smaller paragraphs each with its own topic statement and argument to that
statement. For example, it would have its statement that supports animal
testing such as Every major medical advance is attributable to experiments
on animals.(PETA) And in the paragraph below it would have an explanation
as to why that is untrue.
The difference between these two genres in the structure and display
are that in typography there is more information given than in the
iconography. In addition to that, the typography is less visually appealing
than the iconography. Although there are differences in the structure and
delivery between the two genres, there at least one common characteristic
between them both. Between both of these genres they both clearly get their
point across, with no question as to what side is being taken on the issue.
The article was a more effective genre because it gave more
information, which in turn made more of an impact. It gave different
perspectives that draw in different people rather than the one poster
intended to bring in everyone. With the poster it was not as effective mainly
because of the lack of information and viewpoints. The article gave more
insight into the problem at hand.

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Animal Testing Is Bad Science: Point/Counterpoint. (n.d.). Retrieved February

19, 2015, from http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-forexperimentation/animal-testing-bad-science/

PETA (2014). image, Retrieved February 18, 2015, from:

https://ignitevitality.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/if-you-dont-want-bloodon-your-hands-why-would-you-put-it-on-your-face/tation-styleguide/#sthash.T8T429pt.dpuf