Wall Street Journal Questions Bev Hills Labeling Campaign

By Simon Ward

The Wall Street Journal (May 7, "Under Palm Trees, Sunny Skies, The Fur Flies") uses the term "misleading" to describe what the writer sees as an "animal rights publicity stunt" masquerading as a "consumer rights" campaign in Beverly Hills.

On May 11, Beverly Hills will vote on a proposed ordinance that would require local furriers to label their wares with a credit card-sized tag that lists a variety of ways the animals may (or may not) have been killed.

The city is fired up, with the city clerk receiving "an unusual number of requests" for absentee ballots, writes Journal columnist Elizabeth Bukowski, and inevitably celebrities are getting in on the act. Larry King's yard, for example, is said to sport a sign supporting the labeling initiative.

But are King and his ilk being hood-winked? Clearly so, says Bukowski, who takes issue with a number of aspects of the campaign, most importantly the contention of "Beverly Hills Consumers for Informed Choices", the organization behind it, that the concern is consumer rights, not animal rights.

"People who buy fur, one assumes, are aware that sable coats are not made with pelts from animals that died of old age," writes Bukowski. "No, fur owners have surely accepted the idea that critters die unnaturally in the name of cozy winter coats and the longest fashion trend in history. ... Yet activists are betting that shoppers in this posh enclave will go stole-less if furs are tagged with a long - and misleading - list of ways to 'harvest' animals."

"It's hard to see how a list of all the ways that different fur-bearing animals are killed in different countries will help a consumer make an 'informed choice' about a particular item in a Beverly Hills shop," is Bukowski's verdict.

Bukowski also raises an eyebrow at the way in which Beverly Hills Consumers for Informed Choices has used video of local salespeople taken with hidden cameras and edited to present them as being at best uninformed about how furs are produced, and at worst guilty of deceit and consumer fraud.

But Bukowski points her finger at the man behind the whole campaign, Luke Montgomery (formerly Luke Sissyfag).

"Speaking of fraud, what about California's laws against audio recording someone without his knowledge?" she writes. "And why were the offers by the salespeople to get consumers in touch with the Fur Information Council of America edited out of the secret video, copies of which were sent to news outlets and 5,000 voters?"

So what is this labeling initiative really about?

Bukowski argues that "if improving the welfare of animals is the goal, why target a city where there are no fur farms or manufacturers? Meanwhile, as in other animal-rights publicity stunts the overkills of the campaign - its hype and sheer irrationality - will alienate members of the public who might otherwise be sympathetic to the cause of treating animals compassionately."

But Bukowski saves her sharpest attack for last when she tells us that Montgomery confessed that "he and his former colleagues routinely manipulated AIDS statistics to persuade people that '[the disease] was everybody's problem.' 'Statistics are malleable to a certain extent,' he said in an interview this week. 'It depends on how you spin it.'"

According to Bukowski, Montgomery lamented, "The fur industry is a dirty, dirty business. They have to deceive to get people to buy their products.

"Sounds familiar," concluded Bukowski.

See also:

New Website: Beverly Hills Coalition for No on A

April 1999:
17: Don't Label Beverly Hills By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA.

February 1999:
11: In Beverly Hills, Fur Is Flying Over Truth-In-Slaughtering Label Direct link to Seattle Post-Intelligencer, with permission.
8: Fur Labels Aren't Needed Ventura County Star editorial, reproduced with permission.
7: Should Furs Have Tags on How Animals Were Killed? Reader's letter to Westside Weekly, a publication of the LA Times.
5: Fur Flies As City's Name Is 'Used'; This Is A Grievous Type of Fraud Beverly Hills Courier editorial, reproduced with permission.
3: Hold the Label in 90210 More on labeling initiative.

January 1999:
9: Initiative Qualifies by A Hair. How Now in Beverly Hills?

November 1998:

23: Are the Signatures Valid in Beverly Hills? Fur Farmers Think Not
6: Animal Rights Signature Drive Goes Down in Flames in Beverly Hills

June 1998:
18: "Hold the Label," says Teresa Platt, executive director, FCUSA.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, 826 Orange Avenue, #506, Coronado, CA 92118 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

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