Coach’s Cruelty to Cows to Draw Grisly Anti-Leather Display From PETA on Black Friday in Ottawa
For Immediate Release:
November 26, 2024
Contact:
Maddy Missett 202-483-7382
On the busiest shopping day of the year, holiday crowds at Rideau Centre will be met with a gruesome sight as a group of PETA supporters display a realistic bloody-skinned cow face alongside the message, “Here’s the rest of your leather handbag” to call out Coach’s continued sale of animal- and planet-killing leather.
The provocative action is part of PETA’s inaugural Free the Animals Friday, a nationwide Black Friday initiative that seeks to call attention to the suffering of billions of animals slaughtered every year for leather and other animal-derived clothing and inspire holiday shoppers to choose compassionate vegan options.
“Every leather jacket and bag is stitched with the misery of a thinking, feeling being who died in agony,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is encouraging shoppers to keep cruelty off their gift lists by choosing warm, fashionable vegan options that leave cows in peace.”
Where: Outside Rideau Centre, 50 Rideau St., Ottawa. Please see the Google Maps link here.
When: Friday, November 29, 6 p.m.
Why: Cows have friends, hold grudges against other cows, and mourn when a loved one dies or when they’re separated from each other. A PETA exposé of the world’s largest leather processor —which has been linked to Coach—showed that workers brand calves on the face, beat cows and bulls, and shock them with electric prods. The leather industry also contributes to the climate catastrophe, land devastation, deforestation, pollution, water contamination, and loss of biodiversity.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness and free vegan starter kits for anyone thinking of making the switch.. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
