The UK branch of the animal rights group PETA has slammed British paint manufacturer Farrow & Ball (F&B), claiming that some of the company’s paint colour names “promote animal suffering.”
“Paint manufacturer Farrow & Ball is known for its eccentric colour names, from Sulking Room Pink to Arsenic,” the group said in a statement.
“But compassionate decorators might be disturbed to find that some of them normalise animal exploitation, including Dead Salmon, Tallow, Au Lait, Smoked Trout, and Potted Shrimp.”
The activist group went on to urge F&B’s Colour Curator to “update the anti-animal names to vegan-friendly labels that don’t promote animal suffering.”
“Renaming animal product–monikered paints would be a fun way to appeal to more conscious consumers,” said PETA Vice President of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor.
“Dead Salmon could become Magic Mushroom, Au Lait could become Lait de Coco, and Potted Shrimp – well, you’re the expert, but you get the idea!”
“Renaming colours that normalise animal abuse is one way to remind others that animals are not food, but sentient individuals and members of the delicate ecosystem we all share.”
PETA went on to state that “fish feel pain and experience stress, yet they’re killed in agonising ways while fully conscious”.
“Calves in the dairy industry are taken from their mothers within 36 hours of birth,” they continued.
“Animal agriculture is also a major contributor to the climate catastrophe – and promoting it is at odds with Farrow & Ball’s commitment to sustainability.”
The group added: “PETA – whose motto reads, ‘Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.”
Gript reached out to F&B for comment. However, the firm replied: “Farrow & Ball will not be making any comment on this story.”
Earlier this year, PETA called for animal-themed carousel rides to cease production, arguing that they “normalise” harmful attitudes towards non-human creatures.
Animal rights group PETA has called for the end of animal-themed carousel rides, arguing that they “normalise” using animals for human amusement, and that animals like horses are “never free to pursue their own lives and interests.”https://t.co/vVo1oOXbLc
— gript (@griptmedia) February 9, 2024
“Animal-themed carousels unintentionally celebrate the exploitation of sentient beings,” they said at the time.
“Animals used for rides and other forms of entertainment – including camels, horses, elephants, and dolphins – are confined and in servitude, never free to pursue their own lives and interests.”
The letter went on to explain that animals “crave freedom from oppression.”