Peta Call On Oscar Nominees To Boycott Armani Over Fur Fuss

Officials at animal rights group PETA are urging Oscar nominees to turn their backs on fashion house Armani as they choose outfits for the Academy Awards - to protest the company's use of fur. PETA bosses have taken out a full-page ad in trade magazine Daily Variety, asking Oscar-bound stars not to wear Giorgio Armani's designs.

The organisation is furious with the Italian fashion king for going back on his word to stop using fur.

A spokesman for PETA tells WENN, "No designer cosies up to the red carpet crowd more than Giorgio Armani, and this year PETA is urging Oscar nominees to hang-up on him when he comes calling.

"Just a year after the designer told Time magazine, 'I spoke with the people from PETA, and they showed me some materials that convinced me not to use fur,' Armani's latest collections feature fur-trimmed jackets, fur-hemmed skirts, floral-printed fur coats, and even rabbit-fur-trimmed snowsuits for toddlers."

And PETA chiefs aren't stopping at the Variety ad. The insider adds, "We have written individually to every Oscar nominee, asking them to shun Armani on the red carpet.

"Armani uses mostly rabbit fur from French and Chinese fur farms, both of which were targets of recent undercover investigations. Footage shows rabbits crammed into filthy cages that are encrusted with urine and faeces. Workers at the farm in China pull rabbits from cages by their ears and shoot them in the head with electric stun guns while the animals kick and scream. The rabbits are then hung upside down and decapitated."

The PETA spokesman concludes, "We’ve met with Armani and his staff over the past few years and have found that they are moved more by what celebrities think than about animal suffering or protests. We hope he will soon join designers such as Calvin Klein, Stella MCCartney, Ralph Lauren, Vivienne Westwood, and Tommy Hilfiger - who are 100 per cent fur-free."