There is a lot of great animal media this week! How fun to let you know about a truly fabulous photo spread in Us Weekly magazine. The celebrity culture magazine, with a circulation of close to two million, made a wonderful statement on the Hot Pics page, page 24, of the January 12 issue. The pages has four pictures, or "Hot Pics," all of Mary-Kate Olsen decked out in fur. But wait for it: the headline is "How Many Animals Have Died for MK?"
No, I am not telling you about the PETA or the HSUS magazine, or Animal's Voice -- it's in Us Weekly!
The subtitle of the page is "An anti-fur advocate counts the critters sacrificed for Mary-Kate Olsen's fashion." The caption tagged on the first photo, of Olsen with a huge fur handbag, reads, "PETA's Dan Matthews estimates two dozen creatures were used to craft Mary-Kate Olsen's big bag." And we see, superimposed on her photo, a picture of an adorable little animal labeled "Chinchilla." MK's sable stole and vest, and the coyote and mink coats shown in a picture of the Olsen twins, all get similar coverage, each with a picture of the animal who was skinned for fashion.
If you are new to animal advocacy and don't know much about the fur industry, please check out www.furisdead.com to learn more.
Interestingly, the same issue of Us Weekly has a spread headed "What Diet is Best for You?" which recommends five possible diets to help you lose those holiday pounds. Two of the five are vegan! One is "Eating in the Raw" by Carol Alt, and one is the vegan diet in "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. If pop magazines were my thing I would subscribe to this one on the spot!
Please take just a moment to thank Us Weekly for their fantastic "Hot Pics" spread that notes the suffering behind the Olsen wardrobe. Let's make sure the magazine gets more praise than flak for that stance. Us Weekly takes letters at letters@usmagazine.com
I send thanks to lovely Allie Chee for making sure we saw this.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/9mve9r if you would like to see an NBC news piece on Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals" or go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com for reviews and a fun celeb-studded promo video.