Oscar de la Renta Campaign Update:
Oscar de la Renta would like you to believe that change is taking place.
For decades, ODLR has taken a strong pro-fur stance in the face of protests on the runway and pies in the face. But suddenly, after just a little bit of attention from CAFTivists, they have removed all of the fur from their website.
What does this mean? Who the hell knows? But one thing hasn’t changed:
ODLR still refuses to make a commitment regarding their future with fur. No plan. No policy. No dates. Nothing. They refuse to even acknowledge the question.
And if they believe that a non-committal website edit will trick activists into abandoning the animals, clearly they have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into.
ODLR has been playing the victim since this campaign began. Now, they are playing games with animals’ lives. Here at CAFT, we don’t play. It’s time to show them how serious we are.
So CAFT will be hitting them where it hurts: their finances.
New Target: GF Capital
GF Capital Management & Advisors LLC is Oscar de la Renta’s lead institutional investor. They own 20% of ODLR. Their CEO, Gary Fuhrman, is on the board of ODLR. And as financiers of fur, they are now in the same mess as ODLR.
Headquartered in New York City, GF Capital focuses on investments in fashion/design, sports/entertainment, and real estate. Their companies have locations and stakeholders in cities across the country, all of which would love to get a friendly visit from local activists.
And it’s already started. On July 24, activists in Houston did a peaceful home demonstration at the residence of GF Capital’s Managing Director for Real Estate, James Taussig. And after warning the public about the animal abuser in their neighborhood, they came back the same evening during a party James was throwing, to inform his guests. Meanwhile, activists in Los Angeles paid a visit to the Melrose Place location of Jonathan Adler, a luxury furniture store chain owned by GF Capital. With bullhorns blaring and police helicopters overhead, they made sure that their impact would travel all the way up to the GF top brass.
It may feel strange or uncomfortable to protest at a furniture store owned by a finance company, or at a bridal shop holding an ODLR trunk show – but the fact that these entities have no vested interest in ODLR’s fur makes the protest that much more impactful, ramping up the pressure on GF Capital and ODLR.
Secondary targeting works. ODLR will learn that as long as they sell fur, everything they touch will be tainted by that decision. And the longer they hold out, the more creative we will become at turning them into an industry pariah.
We can’t help but wonder how GF Capital and their investments feel about being held to account for animal cruelty, simply because ODLR pridefully refuses to join the rest of the world and go fur free. We may never find out, but we can be sure of one thing: the executives at ODLR will be hearing a lot about it.
And GF Capital is just the first. Since ODLR likes games so much, we can’t wait to show them all the fun we have lined up for them. The message for the rest of the world is clear: deal with Oscar, deal with us.
