Edgy TV Spot Takes Gold Medal in World's Largest Advertising Competition
For Immediate Release:
June 8, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Norfolk, Va. — It's not every day that a skinless alligator with the voice of an award-winning pop star wins a prestigious national award, but that's exactly what PETA is celebrating. The animal rights group has netted an Addy Award—the gold medal in the Public Service, Television category—for its "Stolen for Fashion" public service announcement (PSA), which features the voice talents of Pink and comedian Ricky Gervais. With more than 40,000 entries, the Addy Awards are the world's largest advertising competition.
"Visual messages about animal protection—especially when they combine star power and provocative images—have a unique and lasting effect on viewers," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "We're delighted to receive an Addy Award in recognition of our work, and we're grateful to Pink and Ricky Gervais for giving much needed attention to rabbits and alligators who are killed for their skin."
In the 30-second TV spot, Pink and Gervais provide the voices for a computer-generated alligator and rabbit who demand their skins back from a couple retrieving an alligator skin bag and a rabbit fur coat from a coat check. As the alligator says, no matter what someone pays for clothing and accessories made from animals' skins, the animals have "paid a lot more!"
Alligators and other exotic animals who are killed for their skins are commonly beaten to death with hammers and axes, and it can take up to two agonizing hours for them to die after being skinned. Rabbits, foxes, minks, and other animals on fur farms spend their entire lives in cages before being electrocuted or having their necks broken or their skulls smashed, and many animals are even skinned alive.
"Stolen for Fashion" isn't the only PETA PSA to win an award this year. PETA's darkly comic "Everyday Dogs" TV spot took the bronze for the Not-for-Profit for Local TV/Local Cable in the 32nd annual Telly Awards.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.