PETA Honours Companies For Adding Compassion To The Bottom Line

For Immediate Release:
11 July 2007

Contact:
Lauren Bowey 0789 0056 192 (mobile)
Karen Chisholm 020 7357 9229, ext 229

Progressive Businesses Are Proving That Kindness Pays

London – In recognition of their outstanding efforts to promote respect and compassion for animals through vegan foods, cruelty-free personal-care products, compassionate business policies and a variety of other means, more than 20 companies, civic councils and individuals have been honoured with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Europe’s (PETA) second annual Proggy Awards, which recognise animal-friendly “progress” in 21st century commerce and culture. The winners will each receive a framed certificate and will be prominently featured on PETA.org.uk.

The following are just a few of the businesses which have proved that what’s good for animals is also good for the bottom line:

Best Vegan-Friendly Food Chain: Pizza Express
Pizza Express has been “bringing the true tastes of Italy to the British high street” for more than 40 years. But the best thing about Pizza Express is that animal lovers can say, “Forget the cheese, please”, and order their pizza piled high with an array of delicious, fresh vegan toppings.

Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetics: Urban Decay
Cosmetics maker Urban Decay is setting trends for both beauty and kindness. The company not only has a strict policy against animal testing, but it also denotes which products are vegan with a little paw insignia on its Web site. Urban Decay even developed its own ultra-soft, non-animal makeup brush.

Company of the Year: Smile Bank
If you sell fur, breed animals for slaughter or profit from blood sports, don’t bother walking through the doors of Smile Bank, which turned down a whopping £1.9 million in 2006 alone from industries that harm animals. A part of the Co-operative Group, Smile Bank also vocally supported the fox-hunting ban.

Best Animal-Friendly Fashion: Marc Bouwer
Designer Marc Bouwer has dressed Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey, but what’s even more impressive than his client list is his dedication to using only animal-friendly fabrics. Bouwer went fur-, leather- and wool-free after he watched PETA US’s videos, and he recently teamed up with PETA US to launch his new 100 percent cruelty-free fashion line at New York Fashion Week.

“Consumers are increasingly demanding products that don’t cost animals their lives”, says PETA Director Poorva Joshipura. “Proggy winners are leading the way by proving that compassion and commerce can be a winning team.”

For more information and a complete list of all the Proggy winners, please visit PETA.org.uk.