Global Boycott P&G Day IX – Saturday 21st May 2005
Please
take part in this annual day of action against P&G’s cruel and
unnecessary animal testing - and
pass this email onto others who might be interested.
There’s
something for everyone – including letter-writing blitzes, raising
signatures on petitions, workplace/library displays, campaign
stalls, leafleting and protests at supermarkets, town centres and
P&G sites. So there’s no excuse not to pen this date in your
diary!
Contact
max@uncaged.co.uk, call 0114 272
2220, or write to Max Newton, Uncaged Campaigns, 9 Bailey Lane,
Sheffield S1 4EG to register your participation and obtain
campaign materials.
Last year over 140
boycott-P&G events took place all over the world – from Auckland
to Aberdeen – making it one of the largest days of action of it’s
kind in the world. P&G’s behaviour and increasingly absurd excuses
for their animal testing shows how concerned they are about the
effect of our unrelenting boycott campaign.
But we mustn’t rest on our laurels, for the
job is not yet done. P&G still routinely poisons and kills
thousands of animals every year; it’s pet’ food
subsidiary, IAMS/Eukanuba, continues to secretly vivisect and kill
cats, dogs and other animals in ‘pet’ food research in tests not
required by law; and P&G even persists in killing animals
in the development of cosmetics - despite such testing being, in
effect, outlawed in the UK.
Opinion polls show that a
large majority of shoppers would buy ‘cruelty free’ if only they
were given the information and the opportunity. With your help we
can put a huge amount of pressure on P&G to change by providing
people with the opportunity to shop ethically that they so clearly
crave.
P&G is one of
the largest companies on the planet, selling its products in
virtually every country in the world. Once P&G relents, not only
will thousands of animals be saved every year, but also other
companies will come under irresistible pressure to also cease
animal testing.
What you can do
for Global Boycott P&G Day IX
Whatever you
decide to do always:
·
send out news releases to your local TV, radio and print media
(include the local free papers)
·
make your protest/event as visual as possible (use costumes,
props, banners, placards and posters etc.)
·
contact Uncaged to register your event - and afterwards to let us
know how it went, with a photo if possible
Protest outside a P&G facility
Last year
several groups adopted P&G offices and staged loud and very visual
protests – often on the Friday 20th May when there’s
staff inside and more passers-by, and some lasted all day. These
‘flagship protests’ provide great focal points for the day of
action and attract a great deal of media interest. There are many
P&G sites in the UK. Please adopt one, check out the site and
start planning your protest now!
Uncaged
Campaigns expect to be staging a protest and petition hand-in at
P&G’s HQ in Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 11am to 1pm on Friday 20th May
2005 [TBC]. Please join us if you can.
·
Cobalt 3, Silver Fox Way, Cobalt Business Park,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE27 OQN
·
Hornbeam Business Park, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
·
Lovett House, Lovett Rd, Staines, Middlesex TW18 2AZ
·
Headley Avenue, West Thurrock, Grays, Essex RM20 4AC
·
Hayes Gates House, 27 Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex UB4 0JD
·
The
Heights, Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 0XP
·
Trafford Park Road, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1NX
·
Rusham Park, Whitehall Lane, Egham, Surrey TW20 9NW
·
Flanshaw Industrial Estate, Flanshaw Lane, Wakefield (off the A638
- Dewsbury Rd.)
·
The
Wallaisedown Warehouse, Wallaisedown Road, Bournemouth
·
IAMS UK,
Centurion Way, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1WH
Supermarket Protests
We know that P&G
particularly dislike leafleting, protests and stunts at
supermarkets – they are the most effective activity in changing
shopping habits by reaching consumers at the point of sale,
when they are most thinking about what brands they might buy.
There are an increasing number of smaller High Street/town centre
stores (eg. Tesco Metro and Sainsbury’s Local), which make ideal
venues for a protest and/or leafleting shoppers. Tesco and
Sainsbury’s have been particularly guilty of promoting IAMS/Eukanuba
to animal guardians and misleading consumers about IAMS’ real
policies and practices.
A supermarket protest can be a large affair
with banners, animal costumes and props – or it can be a
one-person mission with a bagful of leaflets. Last year several
groups embarked on a tour of their local supermarkets, spreading
the message to thousands of consumers in the local town, and
having a lot of fun in the process!
‘Supermarket sweeps’
Stack shopping
trolleys with P&G products and take them all to the check-outs at
the same time. After everything is rung through the till, the
shoppers suddenly ‘realise’ that their purchases are made by a
major world animal tester and decide they no longer want the
goods!
Some campaigners
have filled trolleys with P&G products, festooned them with
boycott-P&G posters and leaflets, and then left them in the aisles
for shoppers to see. This works best in a large supermarket.
Others have placed boycott-P&G leaflets in trolleys before
filling them with P&G products and before leaving them to be
discovered by supermarket staff.
P&G product returns
Collect P&G
products from friends, neighbours and colleagues and return them,
in trolleys and baskets, to a centrally located, busy supermarket
with a good returns policy (eg. Tesco). Explain to customer
services that you are mortified to learn about P&G’s animal tests,
will not fund P&G’s destruction of thousands of animals a year,
and want your money back.
Town centre information
stalls/protests and
stunts
A tried and
tested method of reaching hundreds of people with our cruelty-free
message. They also provide good opportunities for collecting
signatures on the Boycott P&G Pledge and fundraising for the
campaign. Many campaigners last year reported that Boycott-P&G
stalls were the most successful they have ever done.
In recent years, several groups have turned
the stall into a bigger event, with several tables, banners,
animal costumes, and imaginative stunts. Obviously, these make
your stall/protest much more likely to be featured in the media,
and make them a lot more fun too! Exeter Friends for Animals
turned their stall into a ‘How Clean is Your Conscience’ display
(a spoof of the TV show); Newcastle Animal Rights have had a
parade of chanting ‘cruelty-free fairies’ distributing info about
P&G as they went; there have been ‘die ins’ at supermarkets or on
the High Street, protests at famous local landmarks, and various
street theatre. Save Animals From Exploitation (SAFE) in New
Zealand strung ‘Clotheslines of Shame’ across city centre streets
– ‘blood’ splattered sheets displaying messages about P&G’s animal
testing.
Letter-writing blitzes
We have a
letter-writing pack available, containing useful addresses and
sample letters to send to local and national media, P&G, and
organisations that are promoting P&G. The letters pages are the
most read section of local newspapers - even a small letter in a
weekly local paper will be read results in thousands of people
seeing the ‘cruelty-free’ message. Use our sample letters, or
better still compose your own. Explain about Global Boycott P&G
Day, the event in your area if there is one, why they are subject
of a world-wide boycott campaign and how important it is people
buy cruelty-free.
Workplace/school/college
campaigns
Display posters
&/or leaflets at your factory/office/school/college or library.
Talk to your colleagues and friends about the importance of taking
responsibility for our consumer choices, give them the information
leaflets and get the pledge sheets signed. There might be a
display area at college or in a library where you can put up
information about P&G. Some students recently have even waged
successful campaigns to get P&G products (such as Sunny Delight)
banned from their school shops!
Contact us and get involved!
These are just
some of the most popular ways of participating in this day of
action - although they can, of course be done all year round. For
more information about other ways to get involved, to register you
Boycott P&G protest and to order campaign materials (leaflets,
posters, stickers, letter-writing packs, petitions etc.) contact:
Max Newton, Uncaged Campaigns, 9
Bailey Lane, Sheffield S1 4EG; tel: 0114 272 2220; email:
max@uncaged.co.uk;
website:
www.uncaged.co.uk/pg.htm
