CHICAGO — A PETA ad asking holiday shoppers to consider not buying exotic animal skin products was deemed too graphic to be posted on city bus stops, according to the animal rights group.
The tagline for the ad reads "I am not a handbag, a belt or a pair of shoes. I am a living being — just like you."
But it was the language lower down in the ad that turned off advertising-placing firm JCDecaux. One passage referenced the "miserable life and a violent death" of animals killed for their skin.
One paragraph was could not run as-is, according to PETA:
Live lizards are often hacked apart with a machete. Live snakes are nailed to trees and skinned, and a metal rod is rammed down the spines of live alligators and crocodiles — all just to make exotic-skin products. Many of these animals are even skinned alive.
JCDecaux sent back this marked-up copy of the PETA ad outlining what would need to be removed or altered it it were to run in Chicago. [PETA]
JCDecaux sent a marked-up copy of the ad back to PETA that highlighted the passages that would need to be changed. An official with the advertising firm said the ad was not rejected, and that a back-and-forth on ad copy is commonplace in the industry, especially when placing ads on public property like bus stops and train stations.
"It was a very graphic paragraph," said the JCDecaux official who asked not to be named. "That would be upsetting to people."
PETA said it would not alter the language in the ad, which describes true horrors experienced by some animals used in luxury products, spokeswoman Sophia Charchuk said.
"If a description of what these animals go through is too graphic for a bus stop ad, then no one should be buying these products," Charchuk said.
The ad was part of a larger effort by PETA to lobby retailers to stop using exotic skin products in high-end products in time for Black Friday shopping. The advocacy group said brands like H&M, Topshop, Cole Haan and Nike had agreed to stop selling the products.
"PETA urges shoppers of all ages to reject cruelty to animals by buying vegan clothing and accessories on Black Friday and every day," PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange said in a statement.
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