According to the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), after the organization held a protest, the Berlin Film Festival was spurred to end its sponsorship agreement with Canada Goose, the Canadian company that makes ubiquitous down-filled, fur-lined coats.
PETA specifically honed in on the fur, which is from coyotes, and how Canada Goose obtains that fur. The animal rights group asserts the coyotes are inhumanely trapped and they often spend hours or days suffering, all for a meagre strip of fur. (The animal’s coat is prized for its ability to block wind, and it doesn’t freeze.)
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The activists claim that “animals who don’t succumb to the elements, blood loss, infection, or predators are often strangled, stomped on, or bludgeoned to death when the trapper returns.”
“After PETA informed festival organizers that coyotes are cruelly trapped and killed to produce these items, they confirmed that the fur fashion label will not be a sponsor at the upcoming 2017 festival,” PETA told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.
Canada Goose started sponsoring the Berlin festival in 2014, becoming its official outerwear partner.
Spokespeople for both the Berlin Film Festival and Canada Goose confirmed that the partnership has ended; the Berlin representative cryptically said “we decided against a continuation for now,” without providing any reason for the discontinuation.
Canada Goose wrote to Global News on Monday, denying that PETA’s presentation of information led to the dissolving of the partnership.
“PETA has misrepresented the facts and their rhetoric in no way affected the mutual decision by both Canada Goose and Berlinale not to renew our sponsorship agreement,” said Canada Goose chief marketing officer Jackie Poriadjian-Asch. “When the sponsorship agreement came to an end recently we decided not to renew based on changes in strategic priorities. We are thankful to have enjoyed a successful partnership with Berlinale over the past three years and we remain very committed to our relationship with the film industry in Germany and around the world.”
“We have a long-standing and authentic relationship with the film and entertainment industry, both on-screen and off-screen, and we will continue to celebrate that relationship in a variety of ways moving forward,” continued the Canada Goose representative. “Canada Goose is a Presenting Sponsor at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and an official sponsor of the Toronto International Film Festival.”
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“This was a mutual agreement based on changes in strategic priorities and we remain very committed to our relationship with Berlinale and the film industry in Germany and around the world,” Jackie Poriadjian-Asch said.
The clothing company went a step further, saying PETA pushes their rhetoric when it comes to how animals are secured to get fur.
“We do not condone any willful mistreatment, neglect, or acts that maliciously cause undue pain, injury or suffering towards animals, and we are committed to providing full transparency about how we make our products,” Canada Goose said in its statement.
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PETA launched a campaign a few years ago to urge the company to stop using “inhumane fur and down” to make its coats.
As the company mentioned, Canada Goose also sponsors the Toronto Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.
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