Bodypainted ‘Reptiles’ to Protest Louis Vuitton’s ‘Killer’ Exotic-Skin Bags

PETA’s Naked, Living ‘Crocodiles’ Will Highlight Animals’ Hideous Lives and Torturous Deaths

For Immediate Release:
May 4, 2017

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

What:    Wearing little more than green and brown bodypaint, two “bloody” PETA “crocodiles” will hang out of an oversized purse that proclaims, “Louis Vuitton: A Look That Kills,” outside the Louis Vuitton store at South Coast Plaza on Friday.

When:    Friday, May 5, 12 noon

Where:    Louis Vuitton, South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol St., Level 2, Costa Mesa

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—will call on shoppers to skip the retailer’s exotic-skin bags, watchbands, shoes, and other accessories. A PETA video exposé of crocodile farms in Vietnam—including two that say that they have supplied skins to a tannery owned by Louis Vuitton’s parent company—revealed that reptiles lie motionless in thousands of tiny concrete cells, some shorter than their own bodies. Also, workers hack into thrashing crocodiles’ necks and ram metal rods down their spines as blood pours from the wounds.

“Every crocodile-skin handbag represents the hideously gruesome death of a sensitive animal,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on shoppers to keep reptiles’ blood off their hands by choosing vegan clothing and accessories.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.