Partnership Between Canada Goose and Berlin Film Festival Ends
While the exact cause for the end of the partnership between Canada Goose and the Berlin International Film Festival may be disputed, the fact remains that it has officially ended. The Toronto-based fashion retailer, that uses both down and coyote fur for its signature jackets, has been the subject of many protests as well as bans by animal rights activists. Some have been initiated by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), including the protests that targeted the retailer for being a sponsor of the film festival since 2014, as the official outerwear partner.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that the partnership ended after the 2016 edition of the festival, and while a spokesperson for the Berlin Film Festival stated they “decided against a continuation for now” due to an “internal process evaluating the strategic orientation of the festival,” in a statement to the website, PETA stated:
“After PETA informed (Berlin) 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.”
However, in a statement to Global News, Jackie Poriadjian-Asch, chief marketing officer at Canada Goose, stated:
“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. When the sponsorship agreement came to an end recently we decided not to renew based on changes in strategic priorities.”
The statement added that Canada Goose is a “Presenting Sponsor at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and an official sponsor of the Toronto International Film Festival.” However, as Forbes notes in their article about Canada Goose “battling” an animal rights backlash, “it is possible that a mix of protests, online advocacy and posters will serve to remind consumers that the decision to wear fur is contentious.”
Photo Credit: www.screendaily.com
