Banned! PETA’s Anti-Leather and Wool Ad Gets Pulled From Walden Galleria After Sales Fall

For Immediate Release:
December 19, 2025

Contact:
Hannah Nelson 202-483-7382

Cheektowaga, N.Y. –

With stores bustling with last-minute Christmas shoppers, PETA has placed messages in malls statewide reminding everyone to leave cruelty off their gift lists and opt for vegan fabrics—but mall owner and operator Pyramid Management Group has had PETA’s non-graphic ads pulled from Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga and two other malls this week, claiming they were “de-influencing shoppers from spending money with their tenants.” To which PETA says, “You don’t go naked if you don’t buy fur or other animal skins, so shops simply have to give shoppers something else to buy.”

The messages—which feature cows and sheep imploring everyone to see them for the thinking, feeling individuals they are—went up on December 8 and were also scheduled to run for four weeks at Sangertown Square in New Hartford and Crossgates Mall in Westmere.

*PETA’s pro-animal protection ad targeting wool at Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga. The ad has since been taken down by the mall’s owner and operator, Pyramid Management Group.*

“PETA’s message that animals shouldn’t suffer for jackets and scarves was apparently resonating so much with shoppers that mall management had them removed,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “While stores that sell animal skins deserve some coal in their stockings, PETA encourages holiday shoppers to stay on the nice list by sticking to luxurious and cozy vegan fabrics that no one was killed for.”

Cows have friends and mourn when a loved one dies, but 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 or abuse in any other way”—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.