The Loving One

I grew up on a small town in Idaho.  Farming was the way of life and all my friends either grew up on farms or had worked on.  We knew where our food came from and learning firsthand about the natural ways of life.  I remember when my brother got married and how his wife had never lived outside of Salt Lake City.  After they were married, their first home was in the middle of our small farming town with a total population of 1,000 people.  She was shocked and excited when she first saw a tractor that she called us to tell us the good news.  It was funny to me but made me realize how not everyone knows the things I know about farming.

This realization became even more clear the more I researched this topic.  There is not a lot of mainstream social media posted about farming wool.  The posts I found were mostly negative.  PETA and environmental groups supplied most of the negative posts.  It shows how separated we have become from the source of our food, clothes, and other goods.  We are so far from the process that we are becoming ignorant about how important agriculture is in our lives and susceptible to the propaganda coming from mainstream media.   

One picture that was particularly amusing to me asked the question, “Which sheep should die for your sweater?  The daring one, the loving one, the hopeful one?”  It is promoting a vegan plays very strongly to the pathos (emotions) of the viewer.  It triggers a soft spot in our hearts and causes us to think twice about our actions.  It even got me thinking about how bad I felt for the sheep before I snapped back to my understanding that sheep are not harmed during the process and in fact taken very good care of.

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Another side of the advertising I noticed was the color schemes of the pictures.  The negative pictures tended to have dark, powerful colors such as black and red with a contrasting white lettering.  This grabs the attention of the reader and sets a serious mood.  In the positive images, the scene was light and airy with natural happy colors.  This sets the scene for the viewers before they are even able to read or process the article. 

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The occasional positive advertisement I found was usually on websites selling quality wools such as Icebreaker’s website (see image).  The rhetoric involved in advertising against wool production is used incredibly well on the opposing side’s argument but could use some work on the defending side. 

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My challenge to you is to learn more about the things you wear and where they come from.  Your shirt is more than something cute that completes your outfit! And be sure to tune in next week as we talk more about the process behind wool and how many hands touch it before we take it home from the store.

Resources:

Fiber, Blue Barn. “Blue Barn Fiber.” Cruelty Free Wool, 26 Aug. 2016, bluebarnfiber.blogspot.com/2016/08/cruelty-free-wool.html.

“Icebreaker - New Zealand Merino Wool Clothing for Outdoor and Performance Sports - Webdesign inspiration on www.Niceoneilike.com.” Nice one! i like!, www.niceoneilike.com/best-website-inspiration/Icebreaker-New-Zealand-Merino-Wool-Clothing-for-Outdoor-and-Performance-Sports.

Burton, Arlie Felton-Taylor and Lydia. “Wool industry responds to latest animal welfare campaign against it.” ABC Rural, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 14 Apr. 2015, www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-04-14/wool-industry-peta-shearing-animal-welfare/6390924.