Background of the Issues and Types of Messages

Most literature studies cite seven media literacy skills: analysis, assessment, induction,

deduction, synthesis, and conceptualizing. From the stated capabilities, the term media literacy

refers to the ability to identify different categories of media and comprehend the information

they are trying to send. Mostly, media literacy skills apply to controversial issues, such as

vegetarianism, because of the existing opposing sides on the topic. In contemporary times, most

people have turned to veganism to claim that it will save the animals, the plant, and maintain

personal health. However, anti-vegans feel that the opposition does not fairly present the benefits

of both diets. Thus they have designed messages meant to sway people into meat consumption,

causing a constant nutrition battle. To further understand both groups utilize the media literacy

skills, the text will analyze Mercy for Animals’ Pro-Vegetarian and The People behind Beef

adverts from https://youtu.be/lHdLRrUocOA and https://youtu.be/zdRQm2BHpUs, respectively,

to demonstrate the techniques used to persuade people to accept or reject vegetarianism.

Analysis of Media Messages

Analysis of Media Message 1

When you buy meat, do you consider that you are enabling the torture and killing of

innocent animals? That is the concern that Mercy for Animals (MFA) organization tried to

address when it launched Mercy for Animals’ Pro-Vegetarian campaign (Mercy for Animals,

2011). From the onset, the persuasive technique used to capture the viewers’ attention is fear,

because it details how the young ones are suffering alone without the grown-ups who have been

slaughtered. Campaigners use fear to associate it with disliked things, which is killing and

torturing animals. Moreover, in the ad, when the participants buy animal products, blood trickles

from the bags to demonstrate the reality of meat consumption, which the consumers would rather