Fur
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:
The Dutch Advertising
Standards Authority has upheld allega-
tions of misleading advertising leveled
against the fur trade by the anti-fur group
Bont Voor Diren [Fur For Animals.] The
Standards Authority ruled that,
“Considering the way fur is being produced,
by means of unnatural catch in the wild
often by means of a leghold trap, fur farms,
and as byproduct of factory farming for the
production of meat, it cannot be maintained
that fur is ‘ecological’…According to the
judgement of the authority, the production
of fur has nothing to do with the natural
relations that exist between animals and the
environment they live in. Nor can the pro-
cessing of fur be called ecological or envi-
ronmentally friendly, since materials are
used that damage the environment.” Earlier,
the Standards Authority ruled that the fur
trade couldn’t describe the welfare of ani-
mals on fur farms as “excellent.”
An adaptation of Concern for
Helping Animals in Israel’s “Rosh Hashanah
Message to the Jewish Community,” a paid
advertisment published first in Jewish Week,
reportedly brought Canadian Jewish News
more hate mail and threatening telephone
calls than it ever received before.
Publicizing Tel Aviv Chief Sephardic Rabbi
Haim David Halevi’s recent ruling that
killing animals for fur and wearing fur are
violations of Jewish law, the ad appeared in
Canada through the efforts of Toronto resi-
dent David Bronfman.
Only two people other than
reporters turned out November 23 to hear
Fur Information Council of America
spokesman William Outlaw defend the fur
trade at the Cleveland City Club––almost a
year after Outlaw ducked an invitation to
debate anti-fur speaker Elizabeth Bujack, a
local dentist, before a substantial crowd.
New fur marketing strategies so
far this winter have included an offer of a
50% rebate from The Fur Vault if three inch-
es of snow fall between six p.m. and mid-
night on Christmas Eve, and a 100% rebate
if six inches fall; an advertising supplement
apparently directed at the Detroit black com-
munity by a consortium of Detroit-area furri-
ers; and cloth garments with removeable fur
trim. The New York attorney general has
been asked for an opinion as to whether the
Fur Vault ad constitutes an unlicensed invi-
tation to gamble.
