The footage isn’t the highest quality in this video of our recent POM Horrible campaign launch, but it interests me because it’s a great example of how the technology helps with the flow of information (and if you watch the full video you'll see it gets better at the end). That’s a no-brainer of course, but my point is that there is added value with doing things like a demo outside of POM’s headquarters. You’re not just doing it for the passersby to take it, you’re not just doing it for the media to cover—anyone could stumble upon the information that POM kills animals just to help market their juice.

This photo was just too good to pass up. The caption, courtesy of The Commercial Appeal reads: “Busted by PETA "fashion police" wearing naughty pleather cop costumes at Adams and Main Wednesday, Dennis Abernathy proclaimed "I'm guilty, arrest me" and miniskirted Monika Meilleur of Durham, N.C., obliged.” The full article, which actually contains info about the demo can be found here.

A coworker sent me the photos below today. I lost the e-mail that included info about what the hell was going on—but I'm pretty sure it involved saving animals' lives with help, of course, from our busty friends down at the precinct. The Fashion Police precinct that is!

So here’s the deal. Even if I remembered where these demos took place I still wouldn’t tell you as we don’t want to give fashion offenders (that’s people who think that wearing stuff like fur and leather isn’t cruelty to animals) a heads up. This way, for all anyone knows, the fashion police are right around the corner. And they’ll citizen’s arrest you if you wear animals. Seriously!

The Gals With a Random Passerby

The Gals Without a Random Passerby

OK, so they won’t seriously arrest you, but don't wear animals anyway. Deal?

In Other News

PETA honors trooper who saved cows from barn fire
Are you a sexy vegetarian?

Update

I just Google Newsed PETA and saw that the demos got some media coverage. So i guess it's not a secret where they took place after all. Check this story out (there's funny video of people being ticketed).

Diddy flaunting his dead animal coat

When Diddy promised to remove the raccoon dog fur coats which were mislabeled as "faux" from his store and stop production of the cruel garments, some people began to think that the rapper might actually care about something other than bling. Now it appears that they might have jumped the gun ...

According to the New York Post, as of Christmas Eve, Diddy still had yet to take the dog-fur coats off the racks of his Fifth Avenue flagship store:

Combs promised the Humane Society on Friday that the winter jacket adorned with the fur of the canine species known as raccoon-dog was being pulled from his Sean John line, and vowed that, in the future, the garment would be made with faux fur only.

"I was completely unaware of the nature of this material, but as soon as we were alerted, the garments were pulled off the Macy's floor and Web site," Combs said in a statement through his publicist, Hampton Carney.

"I have instructed our outerwear licensee [G-III Apparel] to cease the production of any garments using this material immediately."

But the $280 snorkel coats were still on display in the windows and on the racks at his Fifth Avenue flagship.

And the coats were still erroneously labeled as made with raccoon fur - not that of the strange-looking dog.

Macy's did pull the coats from its stores and Web site. The retailer had compounded the controversy by erroneously tagging the coats as containing "faux" fur.

Even Combs' store employees were confused, first saying the fur was coyote, then rabbit.

(Read more ...)

The AP reported last week that Macy's has pulled two styles of Sean John hoodies following an investigation by the Humane Society which revealed that they contained fur from raccoon dogs, despite the fact that they were being advertised as faux fur. A spokesman for the store talked about its "long-standing policy against the selling of any dog or cat fur," (which, by the way, it's frickin' illegal—hence the policy) and P-Diddy also expressed his outrage and concern, saying "I was completely unaware of the nature of this material, but as soon as we were alerted, the garments were pulled off the Macy's floor and Web site."

Here's what I don't get. Why is it that both Macy's and P-Diddy freak out when they discover there are cats and dogs in their clothes, and yet they're perfectly content to produce and sell fur garments made from other animals? I would love to hear them try to come up with a rational answer to that question.

I know that I posted this video a few weeks ago, but this is what happens every day to raccoon dogs who are used for their fur. Not for the faint of heart.

Wonkette just reported on a leaked NRA manifesto (in comic-strip form, no less) entitled "Freedom in Peril," which outlines the greatest threats to gun-toting NRA members who apparently can’t even allow their children outside unarmed for fear that they'll be accosted by tree-hugging hippies and made to live in a commune.

The whole thing is priceless, but my favorite part by far is the section devoted to animal rights activists, including (apparently) a kamikaze owl, a young lady with stubbly legs and (heaven forbid) a bare midriff, and a fearsome land lobster! It looks like there's also a cute little chicken among these "frightening forces," from which the manifesto tells us "only the NRA has the will and the experience to do battle with."

This seriously made my day. Check it out.

PETA has never been one to let clothes get in the way of a good protest, and this Holiday season is no exception. In Philadelphia this Wednesday, a few lovely PETA ladies let the folks over at Burberry know that they'd rather go naked than wear fur. For anyone who is particularly literal-minded, I should point out that there are countless great alternatives to fur other than Christmas hats, high heels, and your birthday suit, but if you really want people to listen to what you're saying, I highly recommend it as a wardrobe choice.

P.S. If you're planning on doing any last-minute shopping, may I suggest giving Burberry the cold shoulder this Christmas? It'll be good for them in the long run, and fur-bearing animals will be much obliged.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's PETA's new Christmas e-card. I wrote the lyrics (with a little help from my friend Noah) and recorded the song on my computer at home, and Shawn from our Web department did an amazing job animating it. Enjoy!

P.S. We're not really mad at Santa.

P.P.S. If PETA Holiday cards is your thing, there are plenty more here.

Happy Holidays!

lovefromjack

Less than a week after the story broke that Christina Ricci's biggest fansite had taken down all its Christina paraphernalia and replaced it with anti-fur messages following her appearance on PETA's Worst Dressed List, Ms. Ricci has vowed to give up fur for good. In an e-mail to PETA VP Dan Mathews this week, she wrote, "I never meant to hurt nor anger anyone with my insensitivity. For what it is worth, I have received the message loud and clear and will not be wearing fur in the future. I apologize for my offensive actions."

As a thank you to Christina, we've sent her a Christmas basket of goodies and removed her from the Worst Dressed List. A huge thank you is also due to Dodger, who runs the fansite in question. It's kind of next-level to be able to have such a massive effect on a celebrity you're into just by expressing your convictions. The experience has given me hope for all the wonderful things I can do with the fansite I just made for myself.

The story got pickup from E! Entertainment television (and online) and The San Francisco Chronicle among other news outlets, and there's also a great piece about it on Pink Is the New Blog.

Pretty much anyone with an ounce of compassion knows that wearing fur is somewhere between contemptible and downright wicked on a scale of 1 to evil—and most people have an inkling that the process of making leather isn't exactly a walk in the park for the cows involved (the live dismembering part in particular can be unpleasant). But until now, the wool industry has done a bang-up job of keeping its gruesome practices from the public eye. Which is why we're incredibly grateful to Pink for coming out and letting her millions of fans know what's really going on.

Today, Pink launched her video exposé of the Australian wool industry before her concert in Paris and called for an international boycott of Australian wool until the shocking abuses documented in the video are ended. You can click here for ways to help sheep, and watch Pink's disturbing but important video below.

The title says it all, really, but here's a little editorial: Last week, two of PETA's lettuce ladies braved the freezing cold (or scorching heat? I'm not that great with Central Asian weather patterns) of eastern Kazakhstan to encourage the people of Almaty to mark the New Year by switching from dishes like besparmak (horse meat and noodles) and zhambas (baked sheep’s head) to humane meatless alternatives. Kazakhstan has been much in the news lately, following the release of the Borat movie, and the event was a huge success, garnering international press coverage for an important issue and totally blowing a few minds in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The BBC just reported on a study by Southampton University scientists which showed that individuals who were vegetarian by the age of 30 recorded an average of five IQ points higher than meat-eaters. The initial IQ tests were performed in the '70s, and the results of the study (after adjusting for social and economic factors) demonstrated that the intelligent children were significantly more likely to become vegetarian later in life. Researchers have hailed this study as a compelling explanation for why "higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in adult life."

Incidentally, the study also showed that vegetarians were more likely to be female, which may be evidence that girls are smarter than boys. But I don't really need to think about that.

Virgil Butler, the former slaughterhouse worker from Arkansas who dedicated his life to educating others about the horrors of factory farming, died last night in his sleep at the age of 41. Virgil spent 9 years working in Tyson slaughterhouses, killing as many as 80,000 birds a shift in extremely dangerous working conditions and for very little pay. But in 2002, Virgil contacted PETA to say that he had had enough of the human and animal suffering that he witnessed every day, and asked what he could do to help. Discussing his and his wife's feelings at the time, he said,

What I have seen was horrible enough that we had quit eating chicken. When we researched a bit we found out that the poultry business is no worse than any other part of factory farming. Now we don't eat any meat at all. We also spend a part of each day in the fight against factory farming.

For the next four years, Virgil played David to the poultry industry's Goliath with courage, resourcefulness, and a limitless supply of patience and good humor. He gave news conferences about his experiences, spoke forcefully about animal and human rights issues on his blog, The Cyberactivist, and inspired thousands of people to make changes in their lives based on his own compassionate example. His legacy is one of kindness, hope, and perseverance, and his loss is very deeply felt.

After reading about Christina Ricci's continued refusal to stop wearing dead animals (including, for God's sake, reindeer), Dodger, the owner of Ricci's biggest fansite, replaced all of the site's information about her—including more than 900 photos—with PETA anti-fur ads and the following inscription:

Offline due to fur usage
Well, that's it. I've had this Christina Ricci fan page for almost 8 years (since january 1999), but I recently found out Christina doesn't appear to have a problem wearing fur. Well, I do. I also have a problem with people who wear fur. Conclusion: I have a problem with Christina. And now that problem is solved, because I don't have a website about her anymore, so I no longer have anything to do with her.

When E! Online's gossip columnist heard about the story, he immediately contacted Ricci's publicist, who was evidently all dismissive and uppity about it … until she found out that Dodger's page is the second thing that comes up on Google and a bunch of other search engines if you search for Christina Ricci. You can read E!'s take on the story here, and check out Dodger's powerful message to Christina here.

Meggan, a PETA activist in California, just sent in some great ads she made for peta2.com. This one changed my world a little bit.

This one's for you die-hard Law & Order: CI fans (and closet Wonder Years fans) out there: We spent some time hanging out outside Vogue in New York this week, with some information for the magazine about their continued fur promotions, when who should show up but the lovely Olivia d'Abo? Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool, especially since she's in one of my all-time favorite movies, Kicking and Screaming. Check it out—here she is at the Vogue Christmas party:

So we just heard from Christina Aguilera that she has replaced the fox-fur stole she wears on stage with a faux-fur version after receiving a letter from PETA. Apparently, she had specifically asked her tour's costume designer, Roberto Cavalli, to only use fake fur, but in a press release to Women’s Wear Daily, Cavalli bragged that he had sent her a stole made from real, dead white foxes.

It may be that Roberto Cavalli was still sulking after PETA members disrupted his Milan fashion show this fall and decided to take it out on some foxes, but we're very grateful to Christina for doing the right thing from the start: After PETA VP Dan Mathews emailed Aguilera the Cavalli item and a link to Stella McCartney’s video exposé showing how foxes are anally electrocuted for their fur, he got an immediate response saying that Christina is “very upset” because she “only ever wears fake fur.” The fox stole has already been replaced with a faux-fur version, and the tour is continuing in Europe 100 percent fox-free. Thank you, Christina!

Shaq's sensitive hands

So, after a few months of getting used to their new synthetic ball, the NBA has decided they need to switch back to balls made from cows next year. Because Steve Nash and Shaq didn't like the way the new balls grazed their delicate hands. This has been tough for us sports fans at PETA, because while we were delighted with the NBA's decision to use nonleather balls (as the NCAA has for years), we're also well aware of just how sensitive the hands of some NBA players are—much softer than college players' hands—and we'd hate for Nash, Shaq, or LeBron to ruin their manicures.

But we have a compromise that will save Shaq's skin and cowskins at the same time: Today, PETA's Campaign Manager Dan Shannon sent an open letter to NBA players, offering a lifetime supply of cruelty-free hand cream to anyone who's willing to give the composite ball another shot. You can read the letter here, and if you have any extra sensitive-skin hand cream lying around, you might want to send it along to some of these guys c/o the NBA. We just hate to see them suffer.

This video is pretty cute. It's an award-winning PSA that a PETA member gave us to help encourage people to get their pets spayed or neutered. I'm not entirely sure where the narrator's odd accent is from, but I feel like it adds to the overall effect.

On a vaguely related note, when I first got Princess Cuteyface (she just came in through my window one day), the vet told me that she was at least a few months pregnant. This freaked me out because it was already kind of a big step for me to be committing in the first place, and, I don't know, everything was just happening so fast. Fortunately for both of us, it was a false alarm—turns out she's just a very big girl. Plenty of Princess C to go round. Anyway, I have a new vet now.

My good friend and colleague Joel Bartlett just started watching Veronica Mars, starring the lovely Kristen Bell, who was voted the world's Sexiest Vegetarian this year. Joel, who has never been one to let daily life get in the way of an obsession (see, for instance, his popsicle-stick castle), has not stopped talking about his newfound love for one second all week. So, in an effort to appease him, and for those of you who didn't catch Kristen on Jay Leno in, like, July, here's a video of her talking about Veronica Mars, PETA, and some other good stuff with Jay and our old friend Kevin Nealon. As Joel says of the video,

this better show up on some blogs or else. i don't care how old it is.
P.S. I'm going to marry her.

If you caught the new episode of CSI on Thursday, you'll know that the story involved a murder at a "poultry manufacturing plant." Meaning, like, a murder of a human. But there was also plenty of footage used in the show from PETA undercover investigations of chicken slaughterhouses. We're already big CSI fans because of our friend Jorja Fox, but hooray for the number-one show in the world taking some time to let people know exactly what goes on behind the scenes in factory farms.

If you didn't catch that episode, you're probably going to have to wait until this season comes out on DVD. Sorry about that—next time I'll mention this sort of thing before the episode airs.