Maggie goes bold in the new ad campaign for PETA. She shared with Yahoo Entertainment that she came up with the concept for this shoot.
If there are any fur products on your holiday shopping list — even the tiniest bit of trim — this photo of Maggie Q should make you rethink them.
The Designated Survivor star and Nikita alum appears in a bold new campaign for PETA — the kind that leaves a lasting impression as she clutches a bloody dead rabbit in one hand. The point of the ad — which reads “Here’s the rest of your fur trim” — is to serve as a reminder this Black Friday and holiday gift-giving season that animals are electrocuted, drowned, beaten, and often skinned alive to have their fur removed. And, yes, that includes the tiny bits of fur trim on clothes and accessories. The campaign launched in Asia, and this is your first look at the English version.
PETA is known for its shocking images, but Maggie — a passionate animal-rights advocate who also works with WildAid and Best Friends Animal Society in Los Angeles — tells Yahoo Entertainment that she came up with the concept for the shoot, a collaboration with fashion photographer Greg Kadel, after being fed up with all the fur she had been seeing.
“I was inspired by a PETA campaign they had done years ago with Sophie Ellis-Bextor,” she says, referring to the 2002 ad featuring the British singer and model. “She is a very pale-skinned woman, [the background] was all black — her face and the animal popped. I remember thinking how much it affected me and my psyche around fur and the cruelty around it. Also, how in-your-face it was without overselling it because the truth is these are not animals people eat. These are animals people discard completely and are just used for their skin.”
While Maggie doesn’t wear fur and that’s known to the people she works with, she says people still try to get her to wear it when it’s an accent on an article of clothing. Needless to say, it’s exasperating.
“I can’t tell you the times someone has said, ‘I know you don’t wear fur, but there’s just a little bit on it — on the bottom’ or ‘on the collar.’ Are you friggin’ kidding me?!” she says incredulously. “So I wanted to send a message about trim. We’re really not in an age anymore — well, unless you’re certain people that I won’t name — of wearing floor-length fur coats. That’s … kind of died out. Instead, what’s even worse, the masses are able to afford cheaper fur and things that have just a little bit of trim, and maybe that makes them feel like it’s luxurious, and so that’s desired. I wanted to create something that would affect people emotionally, but also visually, and let them know where that stuff is coming from.”
