Joaquin Phoenix Calls Out Retailers That Feather Their Nests at Ducks’ Expense

For Immediate Release:
January 27, 2023

Contact:
Robin Goist 202-483-7382

Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix is urging anyone with a heart to avoid anything made with down, such as comforters and clothing, now that major retailers, including Gap Inc. and H&M, have been implicated in a new PETA exposé showing workers stabbing and hacking apart birds for items sold with the deceptively named “Responsible Down Standard” label.

“PETA Asia’s investigators went inside farms and slaughterhouses in Vietnam that are connected to companies that sell so-called ‘responsible’ down—including GAP Inc., Guess, and H&M—and uncovered unspeakable cruelty to birds,” Phoenix says.

The video excerpt—which is far less graphic than the full version available at PETA.org—shows that birds’ throats were slit and their feet chopped off while they were still conscious, and at another slaughterhouse, ducks were seen moving for at least one minute after being stabbed in the throat.

“The only way to end this cruelty and spare ducks is to stop buying items that contain feathers,” Phoenix, a longtime vegan who doesn’t wear leather or wool, concludes in the video. “Please remember to check labels, and if they list ‘down’ or ‘responsible’ down, think of these ducks and leave the item on the rack or shelf.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a roundup of high-tech down-free options on its website. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or listen to The PETA Podcast.