PETA Claims Victory from Online Advocacy
Online Media Daily reports:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said that its aggressive online viral campaign targeting trendy teen apparel retailer Wet Seal has led the company to agree not to carry fur this fall. PETA’s initiative, which leveraged the membership of social networking site MySpace, illustrates marketers’ newfound respect for online opinion, according to some analysts. PETA began its Wet Seal campaign last December by posting a video documenting the harsh treatment of animals on a "fur farm" to its Web site PETA2.com. This June, after an anonymous MySpace member began circulating the footage on the MySpace network, weekly visits to the page skyrocketed from an average of 24,000 unique visits to over 350,000, according to Noah Cooper, a "street team specialist" with PETA.
David Benjamin, PETA’s corporate liaison, said he sat down with Wet Seal CEO Joel Waller on July 20 to talk business. Benjamin said that Waller gave him his word that Wet Seal would not carry fur this coming fall, as long as PETA would stop pressuring the company.