Did u know that PAWS is boycotting UGGS, will u stop wearing them?

PAWS takes aim at Ugg boots


By Rachel Dunn


Staff Writer





Respond to this Story Published: Monday, February 25th, 2008





Photo by Staff


The Princeton Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) stages a protest on the Frist North Lawn against the use of animal skins for clothing. PAWS Vice-President Alex Barnard '09 lies in the snow wearing a fur coat covered in fake blood to demonstrate his opposition to animal cruelty. Defying February’s climatic dictates, students lay in the newly fallen snow on the Frist Campus Center’s North Front Lawn on Friday afternoon, feigning death, wearing coats covered with fake blood and sporting signs that read, “What if you were killed for your coat?”


The protest, based on a campaign started by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and organized by the Princeton Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), was designed to raise awareness of animals’ suffering as part of the fashion fur industry. The protest focused on Ugg boots, which are made from sheepskin and are popular among college-age women.





In addition to Uggs, which are openly noted as derived from animals, fur marked as fake may not actually be, PAWS vice president Alex Barnard ’09 explained, adding that clothing imported from China is often unregulated, and recent studies indicate that cat and dog fur may be mislabeled as “faux fur.”





PAWS hopes to address these issues and change people’s perceptions of fashion through the protest.





“We want people to realize that fur, whether it is fake or real, is just ugly, and there’s no reason to wear it at all,” PAWS president Jenny Palmer ’09 said.





Princeton is an ideal place for the protest because of fur’s association with social status, Barnard said. “There is a lot of wealth here,” he explained. “There are people who wear animal products here because they can afford them.”





While PAWS members see demonstrations such as last Friday’s as pivotal to awakening activism on campus, some students see the protests as unnecessarily graphic.





Aly Lopez-Aguiar ’09 noted that while she agrees with PAWS’ mission to decrease the use of fur in fashion, the use of fake blood was “excessive,” she said. “If somebody sees something that graphic, they’re going to be turned off of the issue itself,” she explained.





Palmer, however, defended the use of provocative images.





“There’s always a risk [of offending people],” she said. “Sometimes there’s a lot of apathy; we need to have these shocking images to force people to recognize that the clothes they choose to wear have an impact on animals’ lives.”





Public protests reach a wider audience than the speakers, educational programs and other events that PAWS sponsors, Palmer explained. Protests like the one at Frist aim to alert the public to see the controversy over fur as a “wider issue,” she said.





While such demonstrations are perfectly within PAWS’ right to free speech, the graphic nature of the protest might give a negative impression to prospective students and people trying to get a sense of the University, Haley Thompson ’11 said.





“There are a lot of people [who saw the demonstration] who aren’t students here, and they might find it offensive,” Thompson explained.





For Thompson though, wearing Uggs remains a personal decision, much like being a vegetarian. “You do the same thing when you sit down and eat a hamburger,” Thompson noted. “I don’t feel like it’s all that different, and I’m not a vegetarian.”





Seeing the demonstration did not change her mind, she added. “I’m still going to wear my Uggs.”

Did u know that PAWS is boycotting UGGS, will u stop wearing them?
I wouldnt wear them, but ya i dont think this is going to convince anyone who already has uggs- they knew it was real sheepskin when they bought them- its their own personal decision, even though it may be a inhumane one- people have been wearing real fur and w.e back in the old days, trading fur ect, god gave us dominion over animals. The only thing that upsets me are that the sheep have to die, not for food or something important, but for really, expensive, not even that cute, boots. I wish they made them with some other fake material, but i guess they wouldnt make as much money as it wouldnt be worth as much as real fur. its a busine$$


♥i support PAWS
Reply:well personally i never really liked Ugg boots i thought they where the uggliest boots in the history of boots [im dramatizing it but still ugly boots] but now i think they are SUPER ULTRA UGLY i hate leather and fur things. im a really big animal lover. and yeah that person who said just let people wear what they want i don't think people would like it if we started making coats, boots, gloves [etc.] out of our skin.! thats why i hate fur and leather. its not fair to the animals.!
Reply:I stopped wearing UGG's two years ago - when they went out of style. No one should be caught dead in them anymore - a little behind on the times aren't we?
Reply:No. I think for myself and do my own research and make up my own mind when confronted with protest groups and controversial issues. After thoroughly researching all aspects of this issue I decided that there are far more important issues in the world that require my righteous indignation far more than sheep. I care far more about my fellow as HUMANS who are starving, tortured, impoverished, exploited and suffering needlessly. And peta needs to stop murdering innocent kitty cats and puppies brought to them for care and shelter. They would rather kill pets than allow them to be adopted. They are one of the biggest euthanizers of cats and dog in the US. If anyone doubts this then use the magic of the internet to research and learn the truth about the unethical, animal unfriendly and very cruel group known as peta.
Reply:awwwe omg i have uggs,


ill stop wearing them. i posted and thing


before asking if uggs are made of fur


everyone said its fake so i wore em.


now im so sad.


u dont even know im such a animal lover%26lt;3


:[ i hate how chinese ppl do those things for money
Reply:whats ur prob?


just let ppl wear what they want


a puny opinion with this essay of info isnt going to affect anyone
Reply:IM STILL WEARING MY FABULOUS UGGS!!! xo
Reply:I never wore them in the first place.
Reply:I bought em.


I'll wear em.


It's too late now.








Besides, they're the cheap 20 dollar Wal Mart brand, so I doubt any animal was harmed.
Reply:i have never worn them- or any real/fake fur



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