Group Tells PMK Not to Mislead Customers About Menagerie of Animals Beaten, Skinned, and Killed for Footwear
For
Immediate Release:
March
5, 2013
Contact:
Wendy
Wegner 202-483-7382
Cleveland -- PETA legal counsel has fired off a letter to Andre Scott, CEO of custom sneaker maker PMK, demanding that the company immediately stop issuing false and misleading statements about the animals killed for the "King Bey" sneakers that it created for Beyoncé. Although the shoes are made from calf hair and crocodile, anaconda, stingray, and ostrich skins—the products of industries that are notoriously cruel and obviously deadly—the company has publicly, and incredibly, claimed that "[n]o animals were beaten, harmed, or killed" for the sneakers.
"PMK must face up to the fact that a variety of species were slaughtered for these shoes or confront a consumer-fraud lawsuit," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "The company's attempt to cover up this cruelty is as ludicrous as a fast-food chain telling customers, 'No cows were harmed in the making of our burgers.'"
In its letter, PETA points out that the suffering inflicted on animals by the exotic-skins industry is well documented in PETA video exposés such as "Cold-Blooded Horrors," narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, which shows hunters nailing live snakes to trees and slowly peeling the skins off the animals' writhing bodies, leaving them to suffer for hours until they die. The videos also show crocodiles being shot, stabbed, clubbed, or speared through the backs of their necks and ostriches having their feathers plucked, one by one, while they are still alive so that the quill holes will scab over. Then, they are electrocuted, hung upside down, and have their throats slit. Calves are typically taken from their mothers and confined to tiny crates to produce tender flesh for veal and soft, unblemished skin and hair.
This is the third consumer problem facing PMK: The company received an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau, and on January 23, Ohio's attorney general filed a lawsuit against PMK and Scott for violating customer-protection laws, alleging that consumers paid for but did not receive products or refunds from the company, totaling losses of more than $6,000.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.