It’s a Wrap: After Nearly Three Decades, PETA Ends ‘I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur’ Campaign

5 February 2020

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Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]

IT’S A WRAP: AFTER NEARLY THREE DECADES, PETA ENDS ‘I’D RATHER GO NAKED THAN WEAR FUR’ CAMPAIGN

Citing Fur Bans and Enlightened Designers, Group Expands Focus on Leather and Wool

London – After nearly three decades of recruiting stars to pose nude and declare, “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur,” PETA is celebrating the demise of the fur trade and calling it a wrap on the iconic ad campaign, which has featured P!nk, Gemma Collins, Eva Mendes, and dozens of other celebrities.

PETA is announcing the news in advance of Fashion Week – during which celebrities have unveiled naked anti-fur ads for PETA or its international affiliates since the ’90s – and cites a historic tipping point: “Nearly every top designer – including Vivienne Westwood and Burberry – has shed fur, Britain has banned its production, California has banned the sale of it, Queen Elizabeth II has renounced it, and retailers such as Selfridges and Topshop refuse to sell it,” says PETA Director of International Programmes Mimi Bekhechi. “With fur in a downward spiral, PETA will expand its efforts to expose the violent leather and wool trades.”

The original PETA US campaign began in 1990, when rock icons The Go-Go’s posed in the buff for a “We’d Rather Go-Go Naked Than Wear Fur” poster, which was sold at the band’s concerts and whose proceeds went to PETA US. Pamela Anderson unveiled her Times Square billboard during Fashion Week. Kim Basinger was among the first to share the message – and the very latest was her daughter, model Ireland Basinger-Baldwin.

Among the outspoken feminists who have participated is Gillian Anderson – who launched her PETA ad on International Women’s Day, stating, “This is my body. It’s mine to do with as I please. And today, I’m using it to stand up for animals and their right to exist as they please – with their skin still attached, naturally. My nakedness also makes a bigger statement. As an actor who is usually unusually modest, suddenly I find myself concerned that modern feminism has too many people confusing sexy with sexist.”

PETA, whose motto reads in part that “animals are not ours to wear”, will continue to target fur in different ways – such as the group’s ongoing FurFreeBritain campaign for a ban on fur sales and its protests against Canada Goose, which trims its parkas with the fur of wild coyotes who were caught in steel traps. The group may still use nude celebrities in other campaigns, such as the one against the leather industry, but with a revised headline, such as “I’d Rather Bare Skin Than Wear Skin.”

For more information, visit PETA.org.uk.

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