Presidents, hip-hop moguls, and now PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews have taken the stage at New York arts-and-culture venue 92YTribeca. Dan, together with new "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" model Cornelia Guest, New York Times advertising columnist Stuart Elliott, and Newsweek and Daily Beast celebrity columnist Lloyd Grove, discussed how PETA's eye-catching naked campaigns and celebrity collaborations push animal rights issues into mainstream media outlets.

If the audience members came in with doubts or criticism, we're betting that they left with insight into PETA's tactics after hearing Dan explain that PETA has wonderful stories about building houses for "backyard dogs," rescuing animals from cruel circuses and laboratories, and much more—but what news outlets like Inside Edition want to cover is controversy, nudity, and celebrities.

Although he was there to serve as an unbiased voice, Stuart Elliott noted that PETA's ability to create "buzz" through naked ads and the use of celebrities in protests was decades ahead of modern social-media campaigns. He also commented that the success of PETA's "shockvertising" has persuaded other organizations to follow suit. I guess imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.

© Taylor Hill

What do you give a beautiful and charming New York socialite for her birthday? Fur coats, of course. At her birthday luncheon today, Cornelia Guest and her well-wishers donated dozens of their own coats—made from foxes, chinchillas, rabbits, minks, and other animals—to PETA's fur coat giveaway program for the homeless.

PETA Vice President Dan Mathews was on hand to collect the furs and said, "Fur used to be a uniform in high society, but that's all changing, and nobody illustrates that better than Cornelia."

After the vegan birthday cake was served, Cornelia spoke about the hideous cruelty of the fur industry. She said of fur-wearing among members of high society, "It's the fire-hydrant syndrome. Once one dog lifts his leg, they all follow!"

Cornelia also unveiled her new ad for PETA's iconic "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign to convince others to swear off fur furever. Her ad will hit New York's streets during the busy holiday-shopping season to remind shoppers that compassion is the fashion.  

If you or anyone you know has fur coats moldering away in their closets, why not follow the example of Cornelia and her friends and donate them to PETA? We'll mark them so that they can't be resold and give them to the homeless for a little extra warmth this winter. Remember: Even a little bit of fur trim means a world of suffering for animals on fur farms or who are trapped in the wild.

Photo: Gabrielle Revere

New York socialite and cruelty-free fashion connoisseur Cornelia Guest is taking her passion for helping animals to great lengths in a brand-new anti-fur ad for PETA:

Cornelia—who is the daughter of one of the best-dressed women of the 20^th century, C.Z. Guest—used to wear fur, but she had a change of heart when she learned more about the heartless fur industry. Now, Cornelia shuns animal products of all kinds—she even launched her own line of nonleather handbags at Bloomingdale's.

At her birthday party on November 16, Cornelia will donate all her old furs to PETA, and she is encouraging her guests to do the same. PETA will mark the fur coats so that they can't be resold and will give them to the homeless so that they can be warmer this winter.

And for those of us who have ever wished for a guide to sophisticated vegan soirées, Cornelia has just finished a high-style vegan-entertaining book—replete with original recipes, decorating and party tips, and animal factoids—that will be published in May.

Follow Cornelia's compassionate lead and cleanse your closet of skins. Click here for PETA's guide to cruelty-free fashion.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

In Wednesday's New York Times dining section, someone thought it would be a riot to take the decapitated, amputated, defeathered corpse of a chicken and prop the body up in a sexually suggestive "come hither" pose.

PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk was not amused. "When I saw it, I just couldn't believe that an editor of The New York Times would find it acceptable," she told The Atlantic Wire. "It's downright offensive, not just to people who care about animals but to anyone. It's a plucked, beheaded, young chicken …. [That's] necrophilia. It's not amusing. It's just sick."

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Some have suggested that PETA, which has never shied away from using nudity to make a point, is in no position to cast stones. Excuse me? A key difference between PETA's ads and the New York Times' photo is that our models are willing participants who are still very much alive.

Is it a sign of how desensitized our society has become to the animals who are violently slaughtered for food that someone would think it a "sexy" joke to pose a young chicken—a baby, really, as chickens are slaughtered at 6 to 8 weeks old—like the star of a lingerie commercial. But picture in this bird's place the decapitated, amputated, skinned corpse of a puppy or a kitten. Would anybody be laughing—or licking their chops? Doubt it.