Animal testing is often hidden behind closed laboratory doors so it’s difficult for the public to truly grasp the suffering endured by millions of animals every year. PETA is making that suffering visible – using humans.

The campaign, End Animal Abuse, transforms the experience of laboratory animal testing into a deeply unsettling visual statement. Is it an avant-garde fashion campaign? An arthouse film? Or something else entirely? Favio Vinson from Flavour on the Rocks, who created and directed the hero film, and production company, Papaya Films, have made sure the film will stay with you – forcing the viewer to confront the brutality of invasive testing with a chilling twist.

In the 60-second hero film, human actors take the place of animals during laboratory testing procedures, enduring the same forms of treatment inflicted on animals every day. Throughout the film, subjects are caged, restrained and immobilised under harsh spotlights; gassed; showered with chemicals; injected with viruses; and put through invasive surgery and sensory deprivation.

Rather than relying on the usual route of graphic depictions of animals, End Animal Abuse creates a direct emotional connection between viewer and victim by confronting audiences with human suffering instead. 

Deliberately blurring the visual language of fashion, arthouse cinema and experimental documentary, the campaign leans on stark monochromatic imagery and infrared imaging techniques to create an unsettling visual experience. Illuminated by camera flashes, some of the human subjects sport headgear reminiscent of avant-garde haute couture pieces, transforming instruments of torture into Maison Margiela-esque fashion statements.

It is also set to the haunting strains of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in D Minor, punctuated by the crackling buzz of electricity, creating constant tension between art and brutality. It culminates in a chilling final reveal: a trembling woman huddles on a metal gurney as a blanket is draped around her shoulders, before the words, “Relax, these are professional actors. But in reality, animals get treated like this every day,” appear on screen. 

Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president, laboratory investigations department, PETA, stated, “Caging and abusing animals – regardless of their species – is always wrong. PETA is deeply grateful to Favio Vinson & Andrés Gomez Orellana for creating this powerful and moving illustration of what animals endure in laboratories and for making their suffering so relatable to audiences.”

Favio Vinson, director, Papaya Films, added, “We engaged in making this campaign for the challenge of tackling an important issue through a fresh approach. We committed to a very simple concept that would make the viewer directly relate to animals through heightened visual means. This way, the viewer wouldn’t be able to look away, despite the implied horror of the subject.”

The campaign launched online on 18 May.

Credits
Director: Favio Vinson
Producers: Favio Vinson, Andres Gomez Orellana
Creative Director: Favio Vinson
Director of Photography: Andres Gomez Orellana
Production Company: Flavor On The Rocks
Editing: Lucas Dussans
Production Design: Elise Puzos
Production Director: Maxime Parguel
Casting Director: Alice Ruy
Post-production Supervisor: Pauline Sanguinetti
VFX Artist: Anton Ducos
Sound Design: Mike Smaczylo
Colour Grading: Adrien Lescure