Most disturbing looking through the NYTimes today as the front section was chock full of ads from the big department stores for fur coats. Has it been all season? I haven't been reading the Times since the fall semester (and the student-funded free papers) ended.
And we're talking full color large (one was full page) ads with (female) models wearing said coats. And we're also talking "natural" furs not synthetic with descriptions that ought to be from a wildlife article... all except for the occasional adjective like "sheared". Very sad. I really thought that the purchasing of fur coats, fur-et cetera had become passé, maybe not for animal-loving reasons per se but nonetheless, the effect on the # of animals killed for the sake of "fashion" could be the same regardless of the underlying motivation.
Having said that, these ads are for big sales so there's always a chance that they simply aren't selling well. And ads alone are not a reliable indicator of demand. They are, however, (especially given the quantity of them) a decent indicator that it is still acceptable and non-offensive to buy & sell furs. Sigh.
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