Written by Erika-G
Amongst the jewellery, art, electronics and high-end cars, PETA was front and centre at The Indian Luxury Expo (TILE). which took place in Mumbai from April 26 to 28. Supermodel and actor Dipannita Sharma, who starred in Jodi Breakers and Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, launched the initiative. At TILE, PETA exhibited elegant animal-friendly fashions, chic synthetic-leather handbags, stylish leather-free shoes, trendy cosmetics that weren't tested on animals, delectable dairy-free chocolates and gourmet mock meats. PETA featured the products of more than a dozen progressive companies and designers, including Anita Dongre, Anupama Dayal, Rina Shah, The Body Shop and Baggit. The theme of PETA's newest initiative? "ExtraVEGANza – Be Classy Without Cruelty."
Many cows, buffaloes and other animals used for meat and leather are dismembered and skinned while they are still conscious, and runoff from leather tanneries has been linked to cancer and respiratory infections. Snakes are often nailed to trees and skinned alive for their skin. More than 1,000 companies around the world have banned all animal tests, but many others still choose to subject animals to painful tests in which substances are smeared on their skin, sprayed in their faces or forced down their throats in notoriously unreliable tests.
Thanks to cruelty-free cosmetics and stylish vegan clothing, shoes, bags and foods readily available just about anywhere that one shops, going vegan and enjoying the finer things in life can go hand-in-hand. Take PETA's pledge to go leather-free and treat yourself to the very best without mistreating animals.
The following is a list of designers and companies whose vegan products were showcased at the PETA stall:
Written by Kriti-S
Guess who sent back a Mercedes because it had leather seats? Sexy vegan Toby Maguire, that's who! The Hollywood star and PETA US Sexiest Vegetarian winner made no bones about not wanting to sit on cow skin.
While in Australia shooting The Great Gatsby – the film that multiple PETA India Hottest Vegetarian contest winner Amitabh Bachchan will make his Hollywood debut in – Maguire, a longtime PETA US pal, returned the Mercedes-Benz which was given to him for his stay and asked for the upholstery to be replaced with vinyl. The studio complied.
The vegan version of Nick Carraway (the character Maguire plays in The Great Gatsby) has his fans carried away with his unfaltering advocacy for animals.
Yay! Thank you, Tobey. Let's help the Spiderman star by pledging to ditch leather today!
Bhaiya mere rakhi e bandhan ko nibhaana …
Raksha Bandhan celebrates the relationship between a brother and a sister and symbolises a brother's pledge to protect his sister forever. In advance of this special day, PETA India's "cow" distributed rakhis in Jaipur and urged the public to protect cows by not wearing their skins.
Campaigner Himani Shetty says, "Pledging to protect loved ones is truly noble, and we'd like for the public to extend the same compassion to all others, including animals". Looks like the passers-by agreed with you, Himani, as many of them vowed to protect cows as they would their own sisters.
Our aim was to raise awareness of the cruelty that cows, buffaloes, goats and other animals endure before their skin is made into shoes, bags and other accessories. Pledge to protect cows and other animals by pledging to ditch leather today!
Written by PETA
Item girl Liza Malik has finally agreed to help fix cricket! Liza has appeared in a brand-new ad for PETA India. The ad – which reads, "The Best Way to Fix Cricket Is to Stop Using a Leather Ball" – is a reference to the recent controversy surrounding a UK bookie who offered Malik money to use her alleged familiarity with several cricket players to help him fix Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches. Malik wanted no part of the scheme, but she eagerly volunteered to pose for PETA's ad calling for the use of high-performance synthetic cricket balls that don't cost a cow an arm and a leg. The new ad was shot by ace photographer Rohan Gandotra. "Although millions of fans across the globe are currently enjoying the IPL, cricket is anything but fun for the animals whose skins are used to make balls for the sport, and leather production wreaks havoc on the environment", said the überhot Malik.
She is so right! In India, where much of the world's leather comes from, cattle are marched for days to slaughter without food or water. Those who collapse from exhaustion have their eyes smeared with chilli peppers and tobacco and their tails broken in an effort to keep them moving. At India's abattoirs, animals are often skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious. Also, turning animal skins into leather requires massive amounts of toxic chemicals, and runoff from leather tanneries poisons rivers and streams.
We're with you Liza! Let's ask the International Cricket Council (ICC) to show that cricket is truly a "gentleman's game". Urge the ICC to announce that they will accept synthetic leather balls for professional matches now!
Our sexy ladies made the already high temperatures soar when they called on the ICC to punt leather balls and replace them with synthetic ones. Wearing short skirts and flirty tops resembling the uniforms of each nation which has played in the ICC Cricket World Cup, our ladies held a demonstration right outside Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai asking the ICC to give cows a break and choose fake!
By switching to synthetic balls, the ICC would spare countless cows in India from cruelty such as being marched for days to slaughter without food or water and being skinned and dismembered, often while still conscious. Synthetic options are kind to animals unlike their leather counterparts, and with the technology available today, they can be made to play just as well on the field.
We're hopeful that the ICC will make the switch. After all, cricket is a "gentleman's game" – and it should be gentle on animals too.
Let's all give leather the boot today!