They’re Back! PETA Ads Pulled by Crossgates Mall Reappear—Right Next Door

For Immediate Release:
February 12, 2026

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Just a few weeks after mall owner Pyramid Management Group pulled PETA’s non-graphic anti-leather and anti-wool ads from inside malls across New York state, including Crossgates Mall, over concerns the messages were “de-influencing shoppers from spending money,” the ads have reappeared in an even busier location at Crossgates Commons—right next door. Now the controversial cows and sheep featured in the ads—simply imploring everyone to see them for the thinking, feeling individuals they are rather than as handbags or sweaters—will deliver their message to even more shoppers, commuters, and passersby daily.

“If businesses are worried that a simple reminder that cows and sheep feel pain will drive shoppers away, the solution is obvious—they should ditch leather and wool and switch to kinder, vegan products,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages everyone to bundle up with cozy and luxurious animal-free fabrics this winter and beyond—and now that message can’t be missed.”

PETA’s ads have taken over a bus shelter at Crossroads Commons at 161 Washington Ave Ext in Albany, and will be in place through March 5. The ads are also going up outside Walden Galleria in Buffalo, another Pyramid Management Group property that removed PETA’s messages.

Cows have friends and mourn when a loved one dies, yet those killed for leather may be skinned and dismembered while still conscious. Sheep can remember 50 different faces and leap with excitement when they see their family, yet at sheep farms in New Zealand—one of the world’s top wool producers—workers drag sheep across the floor and sew up their bloody wounds without painkillers—abuses captured on video at shearing sheds all over the world.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.