Katy Perry’s Clueless Koala Commercial: ‘It’s Sheer Ignorance’
Katy Perry may love her teacup poodle Nugget, but she has a long way to go when it comes to other animals. The latest scandal to come out of the Perry camp involves Australia's cute and furry citizens: koalas.
Perry made an ad with retail company MYER to promote a contest giving away 8,000 tickets to her Witness: The Tour. The ad showcases Perry on top of block letters that read "MYER." The "Bon Appetit" singer explains her giveaway and encourages Nugget to pull her giant letters sled. She ends the commercial with a line that has animal advocates greatly upset: “Let’s go chase some koalas, nugget!”
MYER has since modified the advertisement (below) to remove this sentence.
Claire Madden, a Queensland wildlife vet says, “It’s great news that they’ve taken some action over this, although I’m still amazed as to how the marketing department could have let this comment feature on an ad in the first place. It’s sheer ignorance.”
According to news.com.au, about 110 koalas per year are killed by dogs in Queensland.
Madden invited Perry to visit her at work and see how serious the issue is. She says, “Perry is a role model to so many young people, and this just destroys all the good work we do to try to encourage people not to let their dogs come into contact with koalas....Koalas attacked by dogs is one of their biggest threats and primary reasons for presenting to wildlife hospitals across Australia. Come visit me and you will quickly learn how adorable and precious our koalas are and how undeserving your comment is.”
This isn't the first time Perry's been held accountable for her questionable choices when it comes to animal rights. A shoe in her collection, The Jessica, featured real fur from actual rabbits and stirred up anger among fans who are also animal advocates. To make matters worse some websites inaccurately listed the shoe ingredients as "faux fur." An online petition to remove the fur from the shoe garnered thousands of signatures, and even Kat Von D, whose cruelty-free makeup line includes vegan options, scolded Perry for her poor choices in a tweet.
The Jessica shoe, still available at katyperrycollections.com now claims to have faux fur -- even after it was removed from Perry's British site for the same incorrect description -- but at this point, consumers would be right to be skeptical of such assertions.
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