Behind The Leather

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Fashion | My Shopping Bag

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 (Source: Nextshark 2016, np link).

Every bag, shoe, or jacket that is made from exotic skins and sold in a trendy boutique comes with a high price – a price that’s paid by the animals who are ripped from their jungle homes or farmed in barren tanks and then beaten to death, shot or even skinned alive (Source: B and T 2016, np link ).

One handbag, when opened, is crammed with internal organs, still fixed to the skin, a still-beating heart pulsates as women drop the bag and leap backwards. In the same vein, we thought the jacket-opening scene was the absolute worst of the scares, but Ogilvy pulled out all the stops: Gloves and shoes look innocent enough … until you try them on, and find your hands and feet swathed in blood  (Source: Angela Natividad 2016, np link).

‘‘Leatherworks’ allows people to experience and see with their own eyes that every leather product caused a sensitive animal to endure a miserable life and suffer a terrifying death”’ says Puripong Limwanatipong, Associate Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Thailand. ‘By surprising shoppers with the cruelty behind the exotic-skins industry, we can wake them up and spark change that will save animals’ lives’ (Source: PETA Asia nd, np link).

[PETA is an] outspoken and controversial organization … well-known for their guerilla tactics in raising awareness on animal rights issues. Some of their campaigns, which have caused outrage, include placing a topless, pregnant model into a small ‘cage’ in Covent Garden, London on Mother’s Day in 2008. Their accompanying banner read: ‘Unhappy Mother’s Day for Pigs.’ In 2010, they also came under fire for staging a ‘supermarket meat aisle’ installation in New York’s Time Square, using naked male and female models lying in ‘blood’ under clingwrap (Source: Asian Correspondent Staff 2016, np link).

According to PETA, Thailand has the world’s largest crocodile farming industry, where international brands flock to when seeking to use skins in their designs. The group claims to have found workers in crocodile farms ‘sawing open reptile’s necks while the animals are still alive’. They also claim that snakes and lizards are cruelly ‘nailed to trees’ or ‘decapitated’ before being ‘skinned alive’. PETA Australia’s associate director, Ashley Fruno, said in a statement: ‘Every year, hundreds of thousands of reptiles are crudely bludgeoned and skinned alive, all for the sake of so-called ‘luxury’ shoes, belts and bags. PETA Asia’s gruesome pop-up shop reminds shoppers that the only way to keep blood and guts out of our closets is to choose vegan clothing, shoes and accessories’ (Source: Asian Correspondent Staff 2016, np link).

Ogilvy & Mather Thailand, Vice Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Nopadol Srikieatikajohn [explained] … ‘The organ mock ups and mechanics was one of the most challenging parts. It doesn’t only need to look real but the mechanic behind also has to be programmed perfectly with the sensor detection to make the organs move when they were exposed to the light (when the bags opened). This experiment process took up to 12 weeks before we get the perfect fully functioned mock ups running,’ he explained. ‘It wasn’t an easy job to set up a show that looked real enough to come shop either. To make it most effective, it had to be at the centre of a tourist shopping district. With budget constraints and a very provoking campaign idea, it was really hard to find the right venue that could support us and agree with the small budget. … After 3 to 4 location surveys and contacts, we finally found the one that worked. … It took two months – from showroom design to the full set up. Before we were allowed to rent the store, campaign details and store design were submitted to the landlord for approval,’ the creative explained (Source: Das 2016, np link).

It is a really powerful video. Really made me think twice whether I should buy leather products in the future (Source: Tay 2016, np link).

PLEASE PETA DO THIS EXPERIMENT ON A GLOBAL LEVEL … SPECIALLY BEVERLY HILLS, CHINA & ITALY … i would love to see people shopping Dolce Gabbana, Versace etc … & see their reactions (Source: aKAsha6E6D 2016, np  link)!!!

[I’m] not sure what’s more disturbing, the fact that leather is still being processed, or the fact that peta went and filmed this, like just … I know leather comes from animals, I would never buy one for different reasons, but my god, did they have to really go the extra mile (Source: WhiteCrystalForest 2016, np link)?

Instead [of] wasting money on things like this you could have spend the money on research to make Realistic Synthetic Animal Leather (Source: NextStopPrevious 2016, np link).

On the fourth day of the 2016 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, advertising agency Oglivy & Mather took home a total of five Lions, including two Gold Lions for design and a Bronze Lion for the ‘Promo & Activation’ category for its ‘Behind the Leather’ campaign for PETA. The ad agency was also awarded a Gold Lion and a Silver Lion for the ‘Media’ category for the video (Source: Shah 2016, np link)

It … got us thinking about our own hides, and what it must feel like to be skinned alive and discarded, left in pain for hours so the results can be worn for a price tag. … We’re pretty sure the people who encountered The Leather Work won’t be likely to spring for snakeskin handbags again anytime soon, or at the very least, they’ll have something nice and traumatic to remember next time they reach for one (Source: Natividad, 2016, link) (Source: Natividad, 2016, link link)

Peta Asia create[d] this campaign because a few people are aware of the cruelty that animals suffer before they turn into skin products (Source: andres0455 2016, np link).

I wonder how effective it will be (Source: [deleted] 2016, np link)