Over the past 30 years, the “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign by animal rights group PETA has not only become an icon of animal rights, but also a contentious issue with conservative groups none to happy with the provocative campaign.
The posters, which were often seen on large billboards, in magazines and other platforms around America over the years.
PETA said a blog post it’s stopping the campaign because “he use of animal fur all but over.”
“Over the years PETA and its international affiliates have shot dozens of ads with celebrities, held hundreds of protests, and crashed more than a few runways, all in the name of our “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. And now, with the use of animal fur all but over, it’s time for this iconic campaign to go the way of the mink stole, so that PETA can focus on other areas in which animals still need a great deal of help, including in the leather, wool, and exotic skins trades.
The campaign launched way back in 1990 when pop group The Go-Go’s posed in the buff for a “We’d Rather Go-Go Naked Than Wear Fur” poster, which they sold at concerts to raise money for PETA in the United States.
Over the years stripping down for PETA and animals became something of a celebrity rite of passage with a wide swath of people participating in the campaign including Christina Applegate, Eva Mendes, Tony and October Gonzalez, Kate del Castillo, 360, Steve-O, Dennis Rodman, Olivia Munn, Austin Armacost, Ruby Rose, Waka Flocka Flame, and Tommy Lee.
PETA’s announcement comes just ahead of New York Fashion Week when the group has traditionally launched its latest “I’d Rather Go Naked” campaign each year.
The most recent campaign recently featured Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger’s daughter Ireland Basinger-Baldwin, in the buff.
The younger Basinger follows after her mother who also appeared in the campaign in 1994.
Fur on ‘Downward Spiral’
According to the organization “the fur industry it aimed to topple [has] reached a historic tipping point,” adding that n”early every top designer has shed fur, California has banned it, Queen Elizabeth II has renounced it, and the largest fur auction house in North America has filed for bankruptcy.”
PETA said that with fur now in a “downward spiral,” it will expand its efforts to expose the “violent leather and wool trades” – as seen in this campaign featuring Alicia Silverstone last year that appeared in Times Square.
