TORONTO, ON - Armed with nothing but a simple melody, acoustic instruments, and a small army of canine sympathizers, Toronto-based singer/rapper Gaiaisi has declared war on the global fur industry. In the first month since its original release, the censored version of the music video “Tell A Friend” has been watched by over fifty thousand people, many of whom are expressing shock and outrage upon viewing the reality behind the fur trim decorations that have become such a common sight on winter coats this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KgNx8OgSrA
The video’s juxtaposition of some of Toronto’s cutest dogs (the band is lead by a coyote look-alike by the name of Kobu) with imagery of wild animals caught in traps and caged in fur farms has sparked fury at what many are just discovering to be real dog’s fur that is used on Canada Goose, as well as other popular jackets.
While recent acts of sabotage have aimed to damage the business of fur retailers in Toronto, Gaiaisi, with the assistance of the Association for the Protection of Fur Bearing Animals, PETA, and the Humane Society of the United States, is taking on one of the world’s most popular fashion icons in broad daylight, hoping that shedding the truth on the sources of fur trim will help end the yearly slaughter of 700,000 wild animals in Canada, in addition to the approximately 75 million killed annually by the global fur industry.
With the economic and ecological consequences of such a boycott also clearly in mind, the music video links viewers at the end to the myth-busting website www.furtrimisatrap.com which answers each of the fur industry’s claims and justifications for its practices one by one, including the supposed importance of fur trapping to indigenous communities, and highlighting the toxic and carbon intensive treatment process that goes into fur products that the industry has recently been trying to market as “green.”
Canada Goose has so far refused to comment on the music video, or any of the more serious mass-animal abuse allegations levelled against them and other manufacturers by animal advocacy groups.
Gaiaisi can be reached @ talktome@gaiaisi.org
or at http://www.facebook.com/gaiaisi
