Burberry representatives denied entry to Bruce Friedrich this morning, an action that we believe clearly violates the rules that govern publicly traded companies. Bruce, appearing as a proxy, had registered in time, confirmed his registration, and showed proper identification and a copy of his proxy voucher card to officials—but to no avail.

One might suspect that the problem here is that Friedrich is an outspoken opponent of the use of fur in Burberry’s clothing, and they don't want their shareholders to hear what he has to say.

Bruce was slated to speak and urge shareholders to end the company's use of fur, as stated in the shareholder statement that PETA Europe had sent directly to Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts as well as their chair and chief designer. Included with the statement was video footage showing fur-bearing animals caught in traps, animals chewing off their own limbs to escape, and animals on fur farms crammed in tiny, filthy cages until they were killed by gassing, anal or vaginal electrocution, or having their necks broken.

Since Burberry is based in the United Kingdom, where cruel fur farms are illegal, they have resorted to importing animal pelts from Finland. Says Friedrich, "Burberry might not want its shareholders to hear about the company's support for cruelty to animals so extreme that if the practices it supports were conducted in the United Kingdom, they would be illegal, but it has no right to shut out debate".

Posted by Sean Conner

Do it. It’s amazing.

… Probably not, if you’re able to read this without sounding out the letters. But the term does require some explaining for an American audience, especially since we’ve just launched a brand-new website for our Burberry Campaign, written by chavs, about chavs, and for chavs. OK, to be honest, it was written by me, about Burberry, and for pretty much everyone except chavs, but it still requires some explanation for anyone who’s never lived in the UK. So here goes:

“Chavs” are city-dwelling people who enjoy public drunkenness, vandalism, thievery, “breaking things,” and, conveniently enough, Burberry clothing. And our brand-new “Boycott Burberry for the Chavs” site is a petition created for chavs who are sick and tired of Burberry making even them look bad by its tacky refusal to stop selling fur. With a lot of help from the wonderful people who design PETA’s websites, I’ve even included a handy “translate” button in the banner for the site, so you can read the petition in the “original chav.” Check it out here, and sign the petition yourself.

If you won’t do it for the animals—do it for the chavs. (And if all this still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to you, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Trust me.)

PETA Europe did a little trick or treating yesterday at a Burberry store in Manchester to encourage the chain to stop with the fur already. Great demo guys.

Deloitte/Creative Commons

In addition to the critically-acclaimed film Away From Her, Julie Christie has starred in such classics as Doctor Zhivago and Heaven Can Wait, as well as one of my favorite films of all time, the incredibly frightening psychological thriller Don't Look Now (which, incidentally, also features Donald Sutherland and an evil, knife-wielding troll creature). Throughout her distinguished career, Christie has also been an outspoken advocate for animal and environmental protection, and in 1981, she gained a worldwide reputation as a strong voice for animals after she narrated the groundbreaking documentary The Animals Film, which graphically depicts factory- farming abuses.

And just this morning, she sent a letter to clothing retailer Burberry's creative director Christopher Bailey urging him to end the use of fur in Burberry designs once and for all. Here's what she says:

"For the sake of basic decency and humanity as well as for the sake of your company's reputation, won't you please stop using real fur in your designs?"

You can the full letter here, and for a little horror movie about the practices that Burberry supports, click here.

The Burberry campaigners at both PETA and PETA Europe have been extra busy lately. It seems like every day I have photos of some new demonstrations they’re rocking in my inbox.

Check out this shot from a “Burberry: When Plaid Goes Bad” demonstration on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. And here’s a great news story from the demo as well.

Not to be outdone, PETA Europe activists dressed up as bunnies and took to the streets for this beautiful demonstration at Burberry’s annual meeting in London yesterday.

Props to everyone involved in both demos. Great job. And fyi, if you’re interested in being contacted when there are events like these taking place near you, you can sign up for PETA’s activist network here.

Employees at a Burberry in Philadelphia were surprised to come into work yesterday morning and find these two lovely ladies painted from head to toe in Burberry's signature plaid design and a little fake blood to drive home the point that Burberry tortures animals for fur. Glorious.

Man, PETA Europe gets around. It seems like every day I’m seeing clips of their demonstrations in some far away land. Check out this coverage of a Burberry protest they held yesterday in Moscow. Admittedly, the article would be much more entertaining and informative if I could read Russian, but I still love it because it’s just so cool to sit here in Virginia and think about all the things people are doing to help animals all over the world. Animal rights has truly gone global, and that, friends, is exciting . . . innit?

The World, aka, PETA’s oyster.

Yeah, I know, it's kind of a no-brainer. But the relative cuteness of mermaids versus cavepeople was really hit home to me today when I received images from two different protests conducted by PETA UK yesterday. The first, from a demonstration in Edinburgh to encourage people to cut the fish out of their diets, gets 10 points out of 10 for being just as cute as can be. I frickin’ love those mermaid outfits.

But I don't think this next picture from an anti-Burberry protest (designed to make the point that fur is for cavepeople) would make the cut over at Cute Overload. Still, a pretty striking demonstration, in my opinion.

Anyway, the point of all this is please don't eat fish or wear fur. kthx.

My friend Allie, who sits at the desk next to me at the office, left work early a couple of days ago and asked me if I could finish up one of her projects for her. She hasn't been in the office since then, and I just kind of assumed that she was taking a well-deserved vacation. At least that's what I thought until our Burberry Campaign Coordinator sent me these pictures from an Orlando demonstration this morning. That's Allie in the middle on the right—and no, that's not what she normally wears to work. Way to go, Allie!

Her name is Casey Redd, and she just sent in the latest brilliant addition to our Burberry campaign materials. PETA's Art Department does a fantastic job, but this may very well be my favorite anti-fur ad ever. Here's 10-year-old Casey with the ad she made:

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always been oddly fascinated with mannequins in store windows. As a kid I would wonder what they were thinking about, if they were looking at me, and what they do when the store closes and the lights go out . . . As an adult, however, I’ve always been much more fond of human mannequins, particularly when they are smearing “blood” on the front window of stores.

So imagine my surprise when I found out that just a little while ago that in Milan, Italy, three PETA Europe activists took over the Burberry store window there, to let the world know that Burberry tortures animals.

Did I mention that the entire fashion industry is in town for Milan Fashion Week and that this is Burberry’s flagship store? Oh man, I bet Burberry is bumming, especially after all the attention they’ve been getting worldwide . . .

***We now pause to satisfy the lawyers***

The suits upstairs want me to make a couple of things abundantly clear to you, dear reader. Firstly, please note that I am merely reporting that this event happened in Europe, and secondly, just in case it isn’t clear, let me state for the record that I do not support such activities.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

One of the drawbacks of being an international business without any sort of ethical sensibilities is that once your questionable practices get out in the open, the entire world learns about them. Which is a lot of people. This past week, Burberry's callous disregard for animal welfare was exposed in …

Paris (by means of French people in coffins) …

… Hong Kong (with real cavepeople!) …

(I don't know exactly what the sign on the left says, but I have a strong suspicion that there's a message in there about Burberry and their animal-killing ways)

…and Los Angeles (where a little bit of nudity goes a long way)

And there's plenty more where that came from. So there you have it, Burberry. The whole world agrees that you should stop making clothes out of fur that doesn't belong to you.

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.

Burberry, still reeling from PETA UK's little visit to their London store last week, got another unpleasant surprise this afternoon when four activists showed up at their 57th Street store in New York. Here's how it went down, according to one of the campaigners who was there:

Two activists went in the store with posters while 2 more waited outside with their bloody fur coats inside out and tucked under their arms. The 2 activists inside were picked up by security (literally) and removed from the store, but not before one activist managed to get inside the Burberry store window and start spreading fake blood all over…

Meanwhile, on the outside, the protesters spread fake blood all over the window display, summed up the finer points of the fur issue for passersby with chants like "Burberry tortures animals!" and (for the visual learners in the crowd) used TVs strapped to their bodies to show footage of animals being skinned alive for their fur. Check it out:

More pics after the jump.

Yesterday morning, PETA UK showed up at Burberry's flagship store in London, chained themselves to the doors, and hung around until the cops showed up. The BBC picked up the story, which you can check out here, and there are plenty of pictures for everyone. Check it out.

Video of the Protest

More pics after the jump.

You should check out our brand-new Burberry website. It's called BloodyBurberry.com. There was a dreadful, gut-wrenching moment a few months back when it looked like we were going to call the site Furberry.com, but clearer heads prevailed and we opted for alliteration instead of a rhyming pun—which is always the right decision if you're at all serious about animal rights (though we have to learn that lesson again and again).

Previous dangerous rhyming-pun situations in our history have included "Shameway," when we waged a successful campaign against Safeway to enforce stricter animal welfare standards despite hinging our entire slogan on a rhyme that some might say doesn't even work at all. This little glimpse into PETA's history aside, you should check out the new site—it's fantastic, and it'll make you want to avoid Bloody Burberry like the plague until they get their heads out of their asses and stop selling fur.

As a connoisseur of haute couture, I love to see beautiful women on the catwalk at a fashion show. And as someone who cares about animals, I’ve always found it kind of sexy when they’re carrying huge signs that say “Fur Is Dead” and being dragged off that catwalk by security guards. During Fashion Week in Milan a couple of weeks ago, PETA took it back to the old school and gave the fur pushers over at Burberry a little heads-up about what’s in store for them if they continue to try and make their money by promoting torture. Seriously, I’m so proud of these girls. It is incredibly brave to do what they do. Check out the amazing pictures below.

There’s plenty more where that came from, so I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, for a sneak peak at Burberry’s putative winter line, including leghold traps, live skinning, and some fox bludgeoning, watch this. Then sign PETA’s pledge to never even think about wearing fur.