It's an opulent scene. A gaggle of expensively-dressed friends sit around an ornate table piled with fancy finger foods like petit four cakes and dainty tea cups. While they politely laugh and smile inside a room that looks straight out of Versailles, something unexpected happens: a noble tiger walks in, tame and demur, nonchalantly pacing around the room, receiving pets, and licking the floors.
This is how fashion house Gucci is celebrating the Year of the Tiger - but it's unlikely the tiger that was forced under bright lights for this strange photo shoot was celebrating.
Sign the petition to demand that Gucci apologize for its misguided tiger stunt and commit to never using live wildlife in its future campaigns!Towards the end of Gucci's
advertising video, the wild tiger delicately walks up to a human, nuzzles her hand, and then sits at the dining table just like any other guest. It stands its front paws on the table and looks out over the sea of food goodies as though wondering what items it's going to sample.
Tigers are not pets. They are not cute domesticated animals. They do not belong in luxury apartment buildings. And they're not companions for tea-time. They are endangered species that should be respected and protected. But Gucci's advertising campaign makes it look like living with a live tiger is a fun, ideal situation. Plenty of celebrities and rich people already think owning a tiger will somehow make them cooler and richer.
We don't need to keep propagating these harmful ideas.This particular animal was trained to be around humans, rather than to live as tigers ought to live - free and independent - and then, on top of that, was forced around camera crews, bright lights, lots of people coming and going, and more. This animal is not an entertainment prop for photos! It deserves to live a normal tiger life.
Even worse, Gucci is trying to pretend that its stunt is somehow in support of wildlife conservation and protecting their natural habitats. How? Showing a tiger in a fancy apartment doesn't help people understand that their homes are being decimated by climate change and human construction.
Gucci has committed to going fur-free, but that doesn't mean the fashion house is automatically going to get a free pass for other issues of animal mistreatment.
Tell Gucci: your tiger prank isn't earning you any points. Do right by animals and commit to keeping all advertising animal-free - and therefore cruelty-free!