"No, it's fake, but it looks and feels just like the pelts of actual baby seals that were clubbed to death on an ice floe in the Arctic, doesn't it?"
"Mmmmm. It sure does. But it's fake so that's OK."
"Mmmmm, that's right."
No, that's wrong.
From the moment our first ancestor skinned an animal and fashioned a garment out of its pelt, or crawled under a hide for warmth, fur has been a trapping of wealth and a luxury item.
Half a million years ago, a successful hunter would be well fed, and have many furs. Potential mates would view that food and warmth as desirable. Better to date the guy with the big spear and the fur coats, right? And that clan would grow, and that tribe would be strong. Long before animals were trapped and their skins traded for money or goods, fur was a currency that would grow and shape society.
It's practical. Have you ever tried on a fur coat? It's cozy and warm. Duh. That's why animals have fur.
A few hundred millennia ago, humans needed to wear fur. In this millennia there's plenty of other options to keep us warm and dry. So fur should simply disappear, right? We certainly don't need it anymore. But over time, as mankind was developing practical and affordable alternatives to animal skins, furs were developing into a luxury item, available only to the wealthy few. After all, why wear a scratchy woolen coat when you could afford to bask in a buttery mink?
Now faux fur, masquerading as real fur, perpetuates that glamorous image. Real or not, as long as we perceive fur to be fashionable, stylish, and desirable, we'll still have fur garments.
A real fur coat is expensive and few can afford one. But faux furs are entry level priced, starter coats for those who aspire to one day own the real thing. Without fake fur continually breathing life into that cachet, the image would be busted and fur would go the way of the wooly mammoth.
That's what makes artificial fur even more murderous than the real thing.
Now, I got no beef with PETA (see what I did there) and their anti-fur, anti-meat, anti-chicken, anti-fish, anti-feathers, anti-fun, anti-everything agenda. As far as I'm concerned, humans are supposed to eat meat and are entitled to do so because we can catch it. Similarly, if I'm flopping around in the ocean like a wounded sea lion a shark is perfectly entitled to eat me because a) I'm in his house and b) he can catch me. Same deal.
But even though I don't agree with the entire PETA manifesto I can totally get behind the messaging in this spot.
But there's a few gaping holes for me. First of all, is the spot supposed to look real or animated? You'll notice the animation style change as the spot progresses... from obviously animated on the runway to more photoreal in the dressing room to even more photoreal in the... tannery I guess, to an actual photographic image at the end. It would be easy enough to create the whole thing with CG animals at the same level of finish as the fox. But these things are cartoonish... cute, almost. I don't get the feeling that these whimsical creatures are going to go in the back room after the show and peel the skin off that little girl in the cage. And what's up with that blue thing with the Dondi eyes? Is that a seal? Isn't it wearing the same outfit Melissa McCarthy wore to the Oscars Sunday night?
You really should watch this thing in HD; it's much more gruesome, especially the freshly skinned human corpse in the back room. But if the horror for animals like this is all too real, why present them as cutesy animations up front? Do they think that if the animals look real we'll be afraid they'll rise up and skin us? And then we won't feel sorry for them anymore? Is PETA afraid we'll revolt, Planet of the Apes style?
Also, until the thing with the arm-skirt walks down the runway, you can't even tell what they're wearing. I get that it's part of the misdirect, but on subsequent viewings you should be able to look at each outfit and go ahhh... oooooh. Maybe you catch a glimpse on the ear one, but that's it. Everything else just looks like origami to me.
I can't say I'm crazy about the credit roll at the end either. It's not a movie, so when the credits are fully 1/3 as long as the content itself that's a little off-putting, don't you think?
All that said though, PETA has always been pretty good about making their point and this spot is no exception.
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