In your own skin

Olympic gold medalist swimmer Amanda Beard had to launch her naked, anti-fur campaign poster outside the Athletes' Village on Wednesday after Chinese authorities cancelled a planned unveiling, citing safety concerns.In a poster for the animal rights group PETA, the reigning 200-meter breaststroke champion appears naked in front of the U.S. flag and the slogan "Be comfortable in your own skin. Don't wear fur."

Source: Chigago Tribune

A host of other celebrities have protested on behalf of PETA, including Alicia Silverstone. While the motives behind such protests are noble, one has to wonder about the means.

Nudity obviously attracts attention, but does it do anything to convey the message? Are people who view nude images of people like Beard and Silverstone swayed? Are they any less likely to wear fur or eat meat? I would say not. They are much more likely to simply view the images as voyeurs. There is always a large market for celebrity nudes and these images just add to the ever increasing stock available. While any publicity might be good publicity, there might be more effective ways of getting the message across.

Are they becoming meat to protest the eating of meat? Most of the audience these images reach will enjoy looking at them and continue eating their big macs and wearing their fur lined caps. Using nudity to convey this message tends to put these women on the same level of the animals they seek to protect.