Despite the global shitstorm we’ve all faced these past few years, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), continues to find new ways to trigger us. Recently, the animal rights organization has been trying to get Urban Outfitters to stop selling products made of animals in their stores. Now they’ve launched a satirical online store selling trendy-looking human skin clothing and accessories — called Urban Outraged — meant to underscore their grisly (but very valid) point that all leather is made of the skin of real living beings and that UO should stop profiting off murdered animals.
PETA’s tactics against Urban Outfitters and their sister companies, Anthropologie and Free People, escalated slowly and strategically. It all started with some Tweets last year. By February, PETA had made an explicit video about animal cruelty in the fashion industry. In October, they started holding protests outside the company’s retail stores. Yesterday, PETA announced the grand opening of their false online storefront selling clothes made of human skin. Yep. Don’t worry, it’s not real, but the fake products look exactly as disturbing as they sound. If that seems extreme to you, well, you’re not the only one. Overnight, the Twitterverse exploded in disgust.
