Submitted by Las Vegas activists on Sunday, January 17, 2021:
Today, fifteen Las Vegas activists gathered to take action against the fur industry. But in keeping with the two national grassroots anti-fur campaigns that have been seeing the most activity, we figured there was no reason for us to do one action, when we could do two!
ALICE + OLIVIA
Las Vegas is home to one of Alice + Olivia’s twenty-three United States boutiques. Activists hid megaphones in tote bags, shoved airhorns into our pants, and made our way deep into The Crystals mall on The Strip.
Our disruption at the Alice + Olivia store there went off perfectly.
As we entered the store and began our chants about the violence of the fur trade, we surprised not only the Alice + Olivia employees and mall security – but also got the attention of every single other customer and employee in the gigantic mall.
Because it was quiet and uncrowded, our megaphones inside of the Alice + Olivia boutique echoed throughout the entire building. Everywhere, people stopped and stared, turned their heads, and walked out of stores, to see what was happening. This created a huge embarrassment for Alice + Olivia and Stacey Bendet – the first of many more to come here, until they make a public announcement that they are going fur-free.
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE
Saks Fifth Avenue is in the Fashion Show Mall, but has its own external entrance and giant storefront right on Spring Mountain Road, across from Treasure Island. So we knew the perfect demonstration should start out right in front of this store entrance.
Our megaphones were even louder than usual beneath the awning over the front driveway, with our voices echoing towards the doors.
Saks management thought they had gotten the better of us when they asked us to leave the property. But no worries, we stayed for the better part of an hour on the sidewalk in front of the store. And our message was just as effective in shaming Saks, because of all the traffic on that street.
We let Saks know that they will be seeing more of us as well.
As long as there are fur retailers in Las Vegas, we will be there to raise our voices and hold them accountable.
