Dame Vivienne Westwood Jumps Into The Shower In New Pro-Vegetarian Video

Fashion Icon Launches PETA Campaign Linking World Water Crisis to Meat Consumption

For Immediate Release:
March 18, 2014

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Swapping her fabulous frocks for a shower cap, iconic designer Dame Vivienne Westwood literally makes a splash in a provocative new PETA video, available here, about the meat industry’s depletion of world water supplies.

“I am an eco-warrior, but I take long showers with a clean conscience because I’m vegetarian,” she says in the spot, which PETA released online globally today and Dame Vivienne unveiled at a vegetarian hot spot in London.

In the video, which is screening in advance of the U.N.’s World Water Day on March 22, the designer draws attention to the huge amount of water used by the meat trade. For example, rivers are diverted for livestock factories, not only for the animals but also for crops grown exclusively to fatten them. Last Sunday’s New York Times piece, “Meat Makes the Planet Thirsty,” reports that it takes 4 million gallons of water to produce 1 ton of beef but just 85,000 gallons to produce a ton of vegetables. This troubling ratio is found in all animal agriculture; it takes 4.5 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of chicken meat and 7.3 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of pork. Another U.N. study singles out the meat industry as one of the leading causes of climate change.

“By avoiding meat, you do more for the environment than recycling or driving a hybrid car,” Dame Vivienne explains from under the showerhead. The stylish spot was scored by Carter Burwell, the BAFTA and Emmy winner known for his soundtracks to films by the Coen brothers and Spike Jonze.

A video Q&A about the campaign with Dame Vivienne, who has shops around the world, can be viewed here.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.