Thursday, November 10, 2005

Covert, Theatrical Performance Disrupts 'The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show'; Group Highlights Poor Environmental Practices

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The environmental campaign against Victoria's Secret escalated tonight as the lingerie retailer was subjected to a "hijack" of its annual "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" in New York. Amid heavy security, Reverend Billy and his choir -- http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=56498&Link=http://www.revbilly.com -- and a coterie of chainsaw-bearing angels and paparazzi staged a street theater spectacle outside and briefly disrupted the red-carpet interviews to draw attention to the company's destructive environmental practices.

The performance from ForestEthics and Reverend Billy follows a coordinated international day of action on Nov. 3 that included 350-plus demonstrations. Just days before, on Oct. 28, ForestEthics also ran a full-page ad in the New York Times. All are part of a continuing, multi-faceted effort to raise awareness with consumers and pressure the company.

Victoria's Secret mails more than a million catalogs daily on virgin paper that comes largely from endangered forests. Two years of research has confirmed that 25 percent of its catalog paper comes directly from North America's endangered Great Boreal forest -- one of the three largest remaining forests on earth. The Boreal is crucial as a defense against global warming and for keeping our air and water clean, and it's currently being logged at a rate of two acres a minute, 24 hours a day. An area the size of Manhattan is destroyed every 5 days.

Controversy and drama are nothing new to the annual fashion show. In 2002 animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) rushed the runway toting protest signs and CBS cancelled last year's event due to the FCC crackdown on indecency following Janet Jackson's infamous Super Bowl halftime show exposure.

The environmental campaign against Victoria's Secret and its parent company, Limited Brands, began in the fall of 2004 and includes ad campaigns in major cities, hundreds of demonstrations, and a website -- http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=56498&Link=http://www.VictoriasDirtySecret.net -- where people can get involved and motivate the retailer to use recycled paper, to stop using paper from Endangered Forests, and to reduce its overall paper usage.

ForestEthics -- http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=56498&Link=http://www.ForestEthics.org -- protects Endangered Forests by transforming the paper and wood industries in North America and by supporting forest communities in the development of conservation-based economies.

More information, B-roll and photos are available at http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=56498&Link=http://www.VictoriasDirtySecret.net or by calling 917-449-6356.

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