It’s hardly a secret that I’m no fan of PETA. It’s not that I disagree with the cause of protecting animals, it’s that I believe that PETA have constantly gone about it the wrong way. Take for instance the hypocrisy of the Alicia “I’d rather be Photoshopped” Silverstone campaign, or the use of Dita Von Teese in another campaign (are we supposed to believe that she doesn’t wear leather, or use it in her performances?). Then there are the mind numbingly stupid people and actions behind the lobby group, such as Toni Vernelli who recently aborted her baby as a means of combating global warming.
But really taking the biscuit are their vicious attacks against people. Whether it’s throwing things at Anna Wintour or storming a catwalk, their vigilantism knows no bounds. So should we be surprised when they attacked the Olsen twins today?
We shouldn’t be surprised, but I actually am. Somewhere at the back of my mind (probably the same part that generates all my day dreams) I thought that PETA would have woken up to themselves. Their holier-than-though attitude combined with bouts of lunacy and hypocrisy has never worked. Sure, it’s gained them press (and the odds are they’re using that as a measure of their ‘success’), but it hasn’t won them any real converts. It hasn’t changed the world. In fact the opposite is true, as we’ve seen everyone from Kate Moss to Alessandra Ambrosio wearing 2008′s fur coat trend.
Fur is back, and PETA have only themselves to blame.
Such a statement probably won’t sit well with proponents of the cause. PETA after all has rallied against cruelty to animals for years now. But consider the bigger picture, and you’ll see that PETA’s dominance of the debate and their general lack of regard for people has actually turned more people against them than against the fur trade. By the same stroke plenty of people have taken up wearing fur as a means of making a statement against PETA and not as part of a general desire to wear fur.
So it will go that their latest attack on the Olsen twins, labelling Mary Kate and Ashley as the Trollsens, will actually back fire. No doubt they’ll call it a romping success, just look at the amount of press they’ll receive. But who will be endeared to their cause? Who will see their war against the Olsens and give up fur and leather for life? Who is reading this and thinking “damn, I’m going to become a vegan”?
No one. Because PETA has done what they always do. They’ve taken the low road. The easy road. The immature road. And for all their media saviness, for all the press they’ll receive, at the end of 2008 more people will still have worn fur than given it up. And the animals only have PETA to thank for that fact.
