A creative new anti-animal cruelty campaign has a shocking way of getting their message across.
It would have been a day like any other for shoppers at the CentralWorld mall, but a pop-up store called The Leather Works had a horrific surprise for their consumers. Men and women who perused the store inspecting the luxury leather goods discovered the bloody backstory of these products.
The video posted by Peta Australia shows the reactions of shoppers who were aghast at the sight of beating hearts in purses and blood stains on shoes. The hidden message behind the store conceptualized by Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Bangkok and Peta left shoppers reeling in horror. The statement in the video said:
“For the exotic skins industry, cruelty is a daily business.”
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According to Peta Asia, millions of snakes, lizards, crocodiles and other animals are killed for their prized skins every year in Thailand’s exotic skins industry. The campaign website reads:
“Snakes are commonly nailed to trees and their bodies are cut open from one end to the other as they are skinned alive, in the belief that live flaying keeps the skins supple […] Lizards are often decapitated, and some writhe in agony as the skin is ripped from their bodies.”
Crocodile hides are highly prized among consumers and tourists who flock to Thailand to purchase these exotic products. Peta Asia reports that it takes “the slaughter of approximately four crocodiles to create just one handbag.” The industry use their skins to make everything from handbags to shoes.
Major fashion houses also source their exotic skins from Thailand, which reportedly has the highest number of crocodile farms in the world. According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand registered 22 farms with the Fisheries Department and 929 small farms nationwide in 2011. Approximately 700,000 crocodiles were raised on the farms, often in poor conditions and crowded tanks and pools.
