PeTA Catty Over Crawford

FUR COMMISSION USA PRESS RELEASE, AUGUST 26, 2004
PeTA Catty Over Crawford
The wrath of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has fallen this week on the shoulders of supermodel Cindy Crawford after she modeled fur garments for American Legend, a cooperative owned by mink farmers that is famous for its Blackglama advertising campaign “What becomes a legend most?”
Seeing Crawford in all-natural animal fibers is nothing new. She regularly models garments made from fur, sheepskin, leather, wool and silk, as do other supermodels.
But PeTA, which wants to ban all such fabrics, believes Crawford is deserving of special abuse.
After all, claims PeTA incorrectly (according to Crawford), back in 1994 she modeled for its “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. “Cindy has become a laughingstock,” hissed PeTA’s celebrity spokesman Dan Mathews.(1)
We have searched high and low and found no photo of Crawford in any PeTA ad, just one of her wearing a hat with a PeTA logo slapped on the front. Crawford’s side of the story supports this. According to her representative, Annett Wolf, Crawford never agreed to be in the ads and never believed in PeTA’s credo.(2)
“It’s time to set this straight,” says Wolf. “A long time ago, Cindy did a favor for Todd Oldham. Todd had designed a fake fur hat, and she modeled it.”(3)
The photo was then re-used by PeTA in a magazine ad.
The public was led to believe Crawford had signed on with PeTA and believed in its animal rights philosophy, Wolf says, but “Cindy has never been associated with PeTA.”
“This is not fair to Cindy. [PeTA] is not her cause. When she is asked to model something – she does. That is her job. She has been really nice about the PeTA ad, but it’s just not her thing.”
Pissed PeTA
But PeTA has no plans to be “really nice” about anything.
According to MSNBC’s gossip columnist Jeannette Walls, a “major campaign” attacking Crawford is now in the works.(4)
PeTA’s Mathews sent a letter to Crawford last week, reports Walls, stating: “I know that when film and television careers don’t pan out, a model can become desperate, but you’re totally ruining your image by showing such a lack of integrity. … You have become a body without a heart or a head.” (Until the next time Crawford models anything made from oil, in which case PeTA will cheer!)
Walls’s anonymous source for this scoop adds that the campaign won’t end there. “Remember when PeTA stormed Giselle in the middle of a fashion show? PeTA knows where Cindy works and where she hangs out,” says the informant.
“This is so unfair,” Crawford’s rep Wolf told the Post. “She’s not pretending to be anything she isn’t. … Cindy was never a PeTA spokesperson nor has she taken a stand against fur. She was never in a PeTA campaign. All she did was one photo as a favor to Todd Oldham.”(1)
Petrochemical PeTA
Such attack campaigns of intimidation have become a hallmark of PeTA, says Teresa Platt, executive director of Fur Commission USA, representing American mink farmers.
“They have failed in the court of public opinion in their attempt to ban natural fibers, so in desperation they resort to this, all in the name of publicity,” she says.
“They want to restrict us to using plants and oil for our food and clothing. But they dodge the fact that we cannot feed and clothe 6 billion people this way. Aside from the starvation that would follow if their beliefs ever became official policy, we’d be up to our necks in plastic waste!”(5)
“That said, it is ironic that PeTA decided to launch its campaign against Crawford in Los Angeles,” continued Platt. “Drilling for oil, the raw material for faux fur and other products promoted by PeTA, is illegal off the California coast.”
“Instead of directing its wrath at innocent celebrities, PeTA should channel all its negative energy into positive work, like recycling programs for all the non-biodegradable clothing they so desperately want us to wear.”
NOTES:
-(1) PeTA Claws Out for Cindy, New York Post, Aug. 25, 2004.
-(2) Fur Flies Over Cindy’s Catwalk, New York Post, Mar. 6, 2002.
-(3) In the words of the Humane Society of the United States, Todd Oldham is “one of today’s most important designers of fashion and home furnishings … He has been a long time opponent of the use of real fur in fashion, and is dedicated to only using synthetic materials in his designs.”
-(4) Fur Flies Over Crawford Ads, MSNBC, Aug. 23, 2004.
-(5) For information on why animal fibers are an environment-friendly clothing choice, see FCUSA info package Sensitive and Smart.
-(6) The public should beware of images used in PeTA”s campaign and note that any form of animal abuse to farm animals is illegal and will be prosecuted under the jurisdiction of State departments of agriculture.
See Saving Society from Animal Snuff Films, FCUSA commentary, Feb. 6, 2004. See also the following FCUSA materials on the regulation of fur farming in the US: Fur Facts (HTML or PDF format); Humane euthanasia; Merit Award Certification program
(7) This is not the first time PeTA has attacked models who refused to give up natural fibers. Naomi Campbell, who actually did pose naked for PeTA’s ”I’d Rather Go Naked …” campaign, modeled fur, leather, shearling, wool and silk garments after she posed and PeTA put their own spin on it. “We fired Naomi Campbell as a PeTA spokesperson because she so blatantly reversed her position,” said sour PeTA spokeswoman Lisa Lange.(2) Campbell insisted she was simply doing her job. Later on she claimed PeTA “took advantage” of her. Out of the original five ladies in the “I’d Rather Go Naked” poster (which did not include Crawford), only one is ever mentioned now as a supporter of PeTA.
-
For further information contact Fur Commission USA.
Home
© 1998-2011 Fur Commission USA