Rhetorical Exigence in Sex Trafficking Ad

In going through the textbook, searching for a topic for this week's blog post, I remembered the section on rhetorical exigence in images. I decided to look for an ad that struck me, and I remembered a friend telling me about a sex trafficking commercial she saw at the gym. I tried to look for it, but couldn't find it. However, I did find this print ad. I think it's an even better example.

http://adoholik.com/2009/06/08/luxembourg-government-human-trading/

The text says: "Every year, 2,450,000 people become victims of human trafficking, of whom 92% end up being used for sex. 98% of the victims used by the sex industry are women and children!" And then, "Method: Following on from a press and poster campaign, real meat trays were placed in the butchery sections of supermarkets, in amongst cuts of meat. At the point of purchase, consumers were directly faced with the fact that prostitutes are the victims of the trade in human flesh."

The text is powerful, but the image makes a much greater impact. The image screams: "humans are treated as meat" and "this woman is for sale." By displaying the woman nude in packaging only used to package meat for sale in a grocery store, she is dehumanized, reduced to only her "meat" or her "flesh." In other words, her worth (evident from the bar code on her package) is only derived from her body. This ad was made by the Luxembourg government to make people aware of human trafficking, and its massive scope. They use the text to urge citizens to stop financing injustice by paying prostitutes, but the use of the woman in the meat packaging is vital to grabbing a person's attention, and it makes a relatable and valid analogy between sex trafficking and the sale of meat. 

I think this is one of the most effective ads that I've ever seen. It caught my attention with the image, and conveyed an important world issue through a common image (meat packaging), that was also an easy to follow comparison.