PETA launches pointed attack on China's fur trade with creative art installation

Collaborating with Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Beijing, PETA's campaign centres on a series of unique sculptures created by acclaimed artist Xie Yong, professor of the Shenyang University Art Department.

The lifelike sculptures portray the animals most threatened by China's fur trade, such as rabbits, minks and foxes. Instead of their own fur, these animals are covered in coats of needles to signify the intense pain they feel under the inhumane conditions at the hands of fur traders.

The animal sculptures, with information on China's fur trade, will be exhibited at the Zhuozhang Shopping Centre in Shenyang. 

At the campaign website, the same animals have been recreated virtually alongside an online petition to invite pledges to be made against buying fur. For each pledge collected, a needle will be removed from the online sculptures and replaced with a strand of fur. PETA hopes an artistic representation of the animals' experiences can draw more support from the general public.

In China, sales of highly-prized fur have increased over 22 per cent in 2012 according to the China Leather Association, and are expected to reach US$2.64 billion (RMB16.42 billion), at the current exchange rate, over the next two years. The northeast provinces in the mainland have the highest demand for fur coats and trim on jackets, shoes, and other accessories.

These fur accoutrements may look fashionable, but are the result of terrible pain for the animals brutally treated to meet such demand, according to PETA, which aims to increase public awareness in China and bring a halt to the growing fur trade there.

CREDITS
Project: Fur Hurts
Client: PETA Asia
Creative Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Beijing
Chief Creative Officer: Graham Fink
Executive Creative Directors: Juggi Ramakrishnan, Kweichee Lam, Wilson Chow
Creative Director: Xingsheng Qi
Associate Creative Directors:  Awing Chen, Ming Law, Paul Bo
Director:  Morris Ku
Art Directors: Peggy Wang, Ashley Chin
Artists: Xie Yong and students of Shenyang University Art Department
Ogilvy PR:  Olivia Fang, Victoria Cook, Alfreda Jia, We ndy Fung, Sabrina Wang, Jonas Wu, Zhichao Li , Laura Zhu
NEO@Ogilvy:  Canna Jiao, Chuck Li, Frank Fan
Agency Producer: Tony Liang
Production House: BestChange (for web production), Ant-X Production Co. (for video production)
Exposure: Digital, outdoor