Cute Enough to Eat: The Transformation of Animals into Meat for Human Consumption in Commercialized Images

Abstract

In order for a culture that generally likes, even loves, animals to eat them, and especially not to make the link between the two, it is necessary to construct the consumption of meat-eating in such a way that the connection is blurred or erased. In this paper, I suggest that one way this is done is by transforming animals, which are loved, into meats, which are eaten, so that the concepts of “animals” and “meats” seem distinct and unrelated. Using content analysis of commercialized images of animals, I find that this transformation involves two key processes, the representation of meat as something that no longer resembles any animal origins and the “cutification” (making objects appear cuter than they usually appear) of animals, that promote the consumption of their animal flesh. I argue that these types of objectification are similar to other forms of objectification of oppressed groups in society, including women and minorities, and serve to perpetuate the oppression of animals in contemporary society.