Groupon Faces Gripes, Protest at Annual Meeting Over Circus Promos
PETA Will Call for an End to Dirty Deals, Partnerships With Animals Abusers SeaWorld, Ringling, and UniverSoul
For Immediate Release:
June 17, 2015
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
PETA has pointed out to Groupon marketers that animals used by circuses and abusement parks endure chronic abuse and deprivation, but the company will apparently take any deal and has continued to peddle notoriously cruel animal acts—namely SeaWorld, Ringling Bros., and UniverSoul Circus. So on Thursday, Groupon will face challenges to its policy on two fronts at its annual meeting: PETA—which owns stock in the company—will protest outside the meeting, and a PETA representative will be inside, aiming hard-hitting questions at company executives. PETA’s questions for Groupon are available upon request.
When: Thursday, June 18, 9:30 a.m.
Where: The Leo Burnett Building, 35 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago
“Groupon has ignored the responsible leadership of dozens of other sponsors that have dropped companies like SeaWorld and Ringling,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “PETA is calling on the company to stop supporting cruelty to animals by establishing a new policy prohibiting the promotion of animal-abusing companies.”
As documented by PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—orcas at SeaWorld are confined to tanks that are the human equivalent of a bathtub, are grouped incompatibly, and often sustain broken teeth and experience chronic pain from snapping and gnawing at the pool gates as a result of stress and aggression. Animals forced to perform in circuses fare no better: Trainers use extreme physical punishment and the constant threat of violence to force them to perform unnatural, frightening tricks.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
