“Words are important”. Unbelievably, such is the beginning of the petition submitted by PETA to ask publishers worldwide to amend their dictionaries and therefore include in the definition of “leather” synthetic fabrics that aim to copy leather itself. Yet we use the same strategy to respond to the animal-rights association and remind them that their request is ridiculous and unacceptable, in the name of the importance of words precisely. By publishing an article on their web page, on April 4, PETA announced the launch of a campaign whose aim is to persuade the editorial staff of the most important and popular dictionaries in the world to include in the definition of leather other materials of non-animal origin. In doing so, they have based their petition on the usual misleading evidence about the environmental impact and the moral responsibility of the leather industry. On top of that, they have also mixed up the boundaries of the meat industry with the leather’s ones; moreover, aiming to depict a very low profile business, they blame the whole world for some actions for which only some companies, somewhere located, are actually accountable. Finally yet importantly, PETA, who are promoting and fostering the use of “vegan” materials in the brands’ manufacturing, thus splitting fashion between supporters and opponents, do not conceal the primary reasons for their request: they are just marketing reasons in the end. Simply, and not more than business then.
PETA ask publishers to “amend dictionaries by writing that synthetic is leather as well”. Join our campaign to stop them
