AR-News: (US-NY) FUND FOR ANIMALS LAUNCHES TV IN-"FUR"-MERCIAL

[Tracey McIntire]

For Immediate Release

FUND FOR ANIMALS LAUNCHES TV IN-FUR-MERCIAL

First-Ever Anti-Fur TV Blitz Exposes Truth About Fur Trim, Asks New 
Yorkers to Shop with Compassion

NEW YORK (November 17, 2003)  Today, The Fund for Animals launched its 
first-ever anti-fur TV ad campaign in New York City, with a 30-second 
spot that will air hundreds of times during primetime on stations such 
as MTV, VH1, E!, Oxygen, Lifetime, and TNT. The ad features footage of 
fur factories and traps used to kill animals for their fur, and urges 
viewers to make compassion the new fashion by choosing not to purchase 
any clothing with fur or fur trim.

Like the tobacco industry, the fur industry has been deceiving 
customers into buying a deadly product, said Michael Markarian, 
President of The Fund for Animals. A little fur trim on cuffs, collars, 
gloves, or handbags may be dyed blue or orangeand not even labeled as 
real furdisguising the fact that it came from animals whose bones were 
crushed in steel traps or who were anally electrocuted in fur factories. 
Consumers deserve to know the truth so they can make educated and 
compassionate choices.

Many consumers mistakenly believe that fur trim is a byproduct or 
scraps leftover from full-length fur coats. But according to Jennifer 
Allen, Program Coordinator for The Fund, Nearly all foxes killed in fur 
factories are killed exclusively for trim. If current trends continue, 
more animals will soon be killed for fur trim than for full-length 
coats. A loophole in the federal labeling law does not require any item 
with fur trim valued at less than $150 to be labeled. Allen added, We 
want shoppers to know the trutha little trim is still him.

The Funds ad campaign also includes print ads in Gotham, The New 
Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, theatre playbills, and student 
newspapers and posters on college campuses. Fund members will take to 
the streets this Saturday in front of Lord & Taylor (Fifth Avenue and 
39th Street) to speak with and educate consumers one on one about the 
cruel truth behind fur and fur trim.

A Quicktime version of The Fund for Animals TV ad is available online 
at www.fund.org/uploads/FurAd.mov. For more information about The Funds 
ant-fur campaign, please visit www.FurFreeNY.com.