Photo Op: ‘Are You Wearing My Mom?’ PETA’s AI-Powered Robot Calf to Confront Coach Shoppers on Black Friday in Biloxi
For Immediate Release:
November 26, 2025
Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382
On the busiest shopping day of the year, holiday crowds outside Gulfport’s Coach store will come face-to-face with a walking, talking, AI-powered robot calf named Charli XC Cow who will ask leather-clad customers, “Are you wearing my mother?” as part of PETA’s annual Free the Animals Friday. The robot, which features a state-of-the-art 3D-printed head, will describe how cows suffer mutilations and violent killings in the leather industry—and also break into a celebratory dance whenever someone proclaims they’re wearing shoes, clothing, or accessories made of vegan leather.
“Every leather handbag, jacket, or pair of shoes comes from a thinking, feeling being who suffered a terrifying and violent death,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Coach to switch to compassionate and luxurious vegan materials, and urges holiday shoppers to keep cruelty off their gift lists by refusing to buy leather.”
Where: Coach Outlet, 10450 Factory Shop Blvd. in Gulfport
When: Friday, November 28, 12 Noon
Why: Cows have friends and mourn when a loved one dies or when they’re separated from each other. A PETA exposé of the world’s largest leather processor—which has supplied Coach—showed that workers brand calves on the face, beat cows and bulls, and shock them with electric prods. The leather industry also contributes to climate catastrophe, water contamination, land devastation, deforestation, pollution, and biodiversity loss.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
