It took a hot minute for PETA to go after Brooke Shields for her weirdly worded endorsement of the fur industry. Brooke visited a fur studio in Copenhagen this spring, during which time she made her own fur coat and then endorsed a statement written by a non-native English speaker about how awesome fur was and how it was every little girl’s dream. She supposedly said “I will wear the fur garment when I follow my children to school, when I drink coffee and when I sleep,” and that “I will advocate that both my generation and the younger generation can wear fur.” Yes, you and your daughters can wear fur, if you want to look like cruel bitches who don’t care about the plight of animals.
PETA was of course all over that, and went after Brooke, citing her fading career. This was just what Tom Cruise did when he disagreed with her confession to using antidepressants, and it doesn’t add to PETA’s case:
The animal-rights organization is lashing out at Shields for visiting Kopenhagen Fur’s workshop back in March and making comments such as “I will advocate that both my generation and the younger generation can wear fur” and “I will wear the fur garment when I follow my children to school, when I drink coffee and when I sleep.”
Not surprisingly, a post on PETA’s website reads: “When I was a little girl, I dreamed about growing up to be a rock star. Or maybe a veterinarian. Or a roller derby queen. I didn’t dream about anally electrocuting animals on fur farms, but apparently Brooke Shields did.”
But the criticism doesn’t stop there, with a few potshots at Shields’ livelihood thrown in for good measure.
“We understand that when some actors’ careers begin to fade, they’ll do just about anything to stay in the limelight, including appearing in eyelash-growing commercials and starring in short-lived TV shows,” continues the post. “But Brooke, did you really want the world to remember you as a ‘fur pimp’ who stares agog at rows of animal skins?”
[From E! Online]
I don’t know who I find more annoying, PETA or Brooke Shields. I actually liked Brooke before this whole debacle, so I would say that she’ll still slightly ahead and that it will ultimately depend on how she handles the fallout. Is she going to issue a statement clarifying her endorsement, or stay silent for fear of jeopardizing whatever she got paid for this? This incident speaks to both Brooke’s poor judgment and the sad fact that she’ll do just about any commercial. Jezebel ran a brief piece last summer “Why is Brooke Shields in every commercial?” in which they noted that she is a spokesperson for “Tupperware, Coppertone, Latisse, World Gold Council, Colgate, milk, Fertility Lifelines, and more.” I found a couple that Jezebel missed – Volkswagon and Godiva chocolate. What’s next for Brooke? Can she sink any lower than endorsing fur? Is her career as a celebrity spokesperson going to be jeopardized by an association with a fur company? We can only hope she becomes a little less ubiquitous.
Brooke Shields is shown on 5/24/10, 5/23/10, 5/3/10, and 4/25/10. Credit: WENN.com
