Is wearing a meat dress ethical?

In 2001 the International Public Relations Association launched a campaign to reduce the unethical and illegal practices in the relationships between the media and public relations practitioners. I completely agree with each standard and code of ethics that the IPRA states and believe that this campaign is the best way to get the word out about ethics in public relations. IPRA’s campaign is now known to more than 100 countries, by 50 national and international public relations associations, and by 250 thousand practitioners worldwide. In my opinion this campaign will give IPRA a great reputation that other practitioners and associations will try to uphold to. Relationships will be built and trust will be gained to IPRA from this campaign because most people in the field understand the importance of ethics. Without ethics one cannot trust and build stable relationships.


However when it comes to ethics in the entertainment industry, I question whether they care about trust and building stable relationships. It seems as though a lot of celebrities care more about getting noticed in the media to gain more fame. Do their public relations practitioners agree or even encourage these actions? For example at the 2010 VMA’s Lady Gaga wore a meat dress clearly with the intent to gain publicity. She achieved her goal in gaining publicity, but People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was very critical of her wacky use of meat and found it to be extremely disrespectful. PETA states, “Meat represents bloody violence and suffering, so if that's the look they were going for, they achieved it.” Was this ethical of Lady Gaga to wear this dress or did she finally go too far? Would you risk a relationship with another organization just for publicity? I know I wouldn’t. One thing for sure is that Lady Gaga will never be seen in a PETA campaign.