Marketing Morality: The Future of the Extremist Animal Rights Movement in America

Class of 2009 Human Biology, English The animal rights movement, initially founded by a few ethicists writing about the animal interest in avoiding suffering, blossomed into what it is today in the past twenty years. Now, groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are facing a dilemma common to all rising grass-roots organizations: how is it possible to achieve widespread public recognition when the very extremism that attracts attention also seems to alienate a broader support base? This paper attempts to illuminate this paradox through a sociological, ethical, and rhetorical examination. Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point,” and Peter Singer’s “Animal Liberation” are two of the sources that help to provide answers to the pervasive question of the marketing of ideas.