Big ‘Birds’ to Land Outside H&M in Push for Feather-Free Friday
For Immediate Release:
November 22, 2023
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
On Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, a flock of PETA supporters dressed as giant ducks and geese will swoop down on the H&M store on Lincoln Road to call out the company’s use of cruelly produced down and urge passersby to shop only for feather-free items.
When: Friday, November 24, 12 noon
Where: Outside H&M, 551 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach
A PETA Asia investigation into Vietnamese duck farms and slaughterhouses—which provide so-called “responsible” down to suppliers, including one that listed H&M as a customer—shows ducks suffering from gaping and bloody wounds inside dirty sheds and on lots strewn with feces and being stabbed in the neck while still conscious. Many of the birds continued to move for more than a minute after workers cut their necks. As a result, H&M has removed the “responsible” down label from its online offerings in the U.S.—indicating that it knows that the designation is a sham—but it continues to sell down.
“Every down item represents the pain and suffering of terrified birds, and deceptive labels and lip service are deliberately designed to dupe well-meaning, conscientious consumers,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging H&M to help end this cruelty by banning down and is encouraging holiday shoppers to extend peace on Earth to all animals by sticking to feather-free, vegan materials.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.
