Sea Kittens: PETA's attempt to make fish more adorable

[Christopher]

In terms of what the best method would be to get the message out, PETA has already failed and I don't think it can ever be perceived as legitimate thanks to its tactics, psuedo-science, wild claims, and in this case, ridiculousness. On top of that it's not 'Let's stop overfishing, think of future generations', it's 'VEGANVEGANSEAKITTENSVEGANVEGAN'.

How do we stop overfishing? Curb human populations...

[Miyu]

In all reality, I don't think anything PETA did - could get the wanted changes.. awareness.
Every time I've heard PETA as a topic in conversation, it was all related to veganism and vegetarianism. I don't think I've ever heard PETA in conjunction with, anything other than those two things.

[Ski]

For getting the word out, the world wide web, does a wonderful and frankly cheap job. And this is at least, getting the word out there, ridicule or not. It is absolutely ridiculous. And yet... it's working.

The only problem is that not all publicity will be good publicity, and the association with PETA will probably cause people to see this as a non-issue. The jihad they've had against meat-eaters and fur coats has probably tainted their reputation enough that the general public really won't care anymore than if this were good quality research.

[ahoteinrun]

For getting the word out, the world wide web, does a wonderful and frankly cheap job. And this is at least, getting the word out there, ridicule or not. It is absolutely ridiculous. And yet... it's working.

The only problem is that not all publicity will be good publicity, and the association with PETA will probably cause people to see this as a non-issue. The jihad they've had against meat-eaters and fur coats has probably tainted their reputation enough that the general public really won't care anymore than if this were good quality research.

I've never said PETA has a good reputation. But I think at this point their view most likely runs along the lines of any publicity is good publicity. Frankly, I strongly dislike them and most if not all of their tactics. The only reason I can support this is because it is so hillariously laughable and I find it amusing. *shrugs* I will not ever support and like PETA. Just like I will never support the World Wildlife Fund who IMO are just as bad as PETA.

[Siniri]

Just like I will never support the World Wildlife Fund who IMO are just as bad as PETA.

I saw that polar bear commercial over Christmas, and it was laughable. Has WWF always been that bad, or is it just recently? I thought they used to be a respected organization.

[ahoteinrun]

Just like I will never support the World Wildlife Fund who IMO are just as bad as PETA.

I saw that polar bear commercial over Christmas, and it was laughable. Has WWF always been that bad, or is it just recently? I thought they used to be a respected organization.

Not certain which one. They used to be. But they've done a lot of cruddy things at one species expense to benefit anothers. It's just ridiculous. I dislike them. They basically caused the decimation of one entire species in doing so and I refuse to support them.

[Pudding]

[mod hat] You've all been generally well-behaved here, though a few of you have gotten in the general vicinity of the line (though still on the right side) since this has been going a while. Keep doing what you've been doing--this can be a sensitive topic, but this is an interesting discussion and I'd rather not have to growl and send this to the Debate Board. :)[/modliness]

It's bad that I saw this while I was having a conversation with my roommate about maybe being a pescatarian for a while, isn't it?

What exactly is the right way?

If you were doing a campaign to gain general knowledge about the decimation of ocean life how would you go about doing it? Putting out reports, or papers hasn't worked, so what will? A few reports released in my province a few weeks ago barely garnered a mention in the paper.

What will it take? (too little too late IMO anyways, but whatever).

I'd do some advertisements that represent the problem well visually, rather than loud invitations to ridicule. Most people who know about overfishing at least lay off the orange roughy and the Pacific salmon; it's probably worthwhile to increase the size of that group before you break out the weird terminology. A TV commercial (or even an online banner ad) about the depletion of oceanic resources could direct people to a website with more facts about the issue and what they can do about it.

This is just kind of weird and silly and designed to appeal to 11 year-old non-Alaskan girls.

Money money money money... Putting something on a website is cheaper. And how many people pay attention to commercials? For getting the word out, the world wide web, does a wonderful and frankly cheap job. And this is at least, getting the word out there, ridicule or not. It is absolutely ridiculous. And yet... it's working. To get the spread and breadth of advertisement that this is, I doubt they could have done it with serious articles.

And I hate myself right now for defending PETA. But I think I get why they're doing what they did.

Not necessarily TV ads; well-made, attention-grabbing banner ads for a good website with well-represented factual information (and a silly attention-grabbing slogan, as this is PeTA we're talking about) could do the job just as well. The card Siniri mentioned sounds brill (though an OK-to-eat is really not PeTA's MO; they could still come up with something) and materials like that that actually educate, rather than just saying, "Don't eat fishies! They're fluffy!" will do far more good.

I think that the "sea kittens" campaign, where effective, is more likely to feed into the issue of people just caring about "cute animals" rather than getting them to educate themselves on the depletion of oceanic resources. They might develop a wider view of "cuteness" though...and I will acknowledge that that is a start.

[Siniri]

I think that the "sea kittens" campaign, where effective, is more likely to feed into the issue of people just caring about "cute animals" rather than getting them to educate themselves on the depletion of oceanic resources. They might develop a wider view of "cuteness" though...and I will acknowledge that that is a start.

This made me think of Giant Microbes. I guess if you can make the flu, mono, and Ebola cute and cuddly, you can make anything so -- even sea kittens. My personal favorite is Lyme Disease:


Of course, if they're too cute, Americans will rush out to buy them and keep them as pets without considering the long-term feasibility and their skill as caretakers -- look at the number of clownfish that died in this country after "Finding Nemo" (which I thought made a pretty blatant point that oceanic fish should not be kept in aquariums).

[Blue]

I think that the "sea kittens" campaign, where effective, is more likely to feed into the issue of people just caring about "cute animals" rather than getting them to educate themselves on the depletion of oceanic resources. They might develop a wider view of "cuteness" though...and I will acknowledge that that is a start.

This made me think of Giant Microbes. I guess if you can make the flu, mono, and Ebola cute and cuddly, you can make anything so -- even sea kittens. My personal favorite is Lyme Disease:


Of course, if they're too cute, Americans will rush out to buy them and keep them as pets without considering the long-term feasibility and their skill as caretakers -- look at the number of clownfish that died in this country after "Finding Nemo" (which I thought made a pretty blatant point that oceanic fish should not be kept in aquariums).

Aww, I want lyme disease! It's cuter and much more cuddly than the Sea Kittens


Seriously though, media does have an unintended impact on animals. Like the clownfish, there was the same problem with people buying tons of dalmations after "102(?) Dalmations" and then many of them being abandoned when the dogs were not perfect like the movie. Ditto for "Beverly Hills Chiwawa." I'm sure the list can be expanded easily. I doubt that calling fish "Sea Kittens" will make people go out in droves to buy them as pets. PETA's virtual pet (you can create your own Sea Kitten on their site) probably won't either.

[dragon]

I think that the "sea kittens" campaign, where effective, is more likely to feed into the issue of people just caring about "cute animals" rather than getting them to educate themselves on the depletion of oceanic resources. They might develop a wider view of "cuteness" though...and I will acknowledge that that is a start.

This made me think of Giant Microbes. I guess if you can make the flu, mono, and Ebola cute and cuddly, you can make anything so -- even sea kittens. My personal favorite is Lyme Disease:


Of course, if they're too cute, Americans will rush out to buy them and keep them as pets without considering the long-term feasibility and their skill as caretakers -- look at the number of clownfish that died in this country after "Finding Nemo" (which I thought made a pretty blatant point that oceanic fish should not be kept in aquariums).

Aww, I want lyme disease! It's cuter and much more cuddly than the Sea Kittens


Seriously though, media does have an unintended impact on animals. Like the clownfish, there was the same problem with people buying tons of dalmations after "102(?) Dalmations" and then many of them being abandoned when the dogs were not perfect like the movie. Ditto for "Beverly Hills Chiwawa." I'm sure the list can be expanded easily. I doubt that calling fish "Sea Kittens" will make people go out in droves to buy them as pets. PETA's virtual pet (you can create your own Sea Kitten on their site) probably won't either.

Haha, I wants lime disease! Plus in that picture wouldn't the fish/sea kitten be dying, held out of the water?

I totally agree about the movies, people make them seem perfect and great so people rush out to buy them and end up killing them or abandoning them because it wasn't what it seemed like.