PETA and Big Blue Cock team up in Foie Gras Protest
Members of animal rights group PETA have taken to Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth to protest the continued sale of foie gras at Fortnum and Mason.
The plinth has been home to German sculptress Katharina Fritsch's Hahn/Cock, more commonly known as "Big Blue Cock", since its erection in July and their location directly beneath it has provided PETA protesters with an apt slogan for their latest campaign banners: "F&M: Don't Be a [Up Arrow] – Drop Foie Gras".
On the department store's continued sale of the controversial pâté, PETA associate director Mimi Bekhechi commented: "Ignoring the widespread call to stop selling the diseased livers of abused birds is a huge cock-up"
She added: "Fortnum & Mason's stubborn insistence on selling a product which is illegal to produce in Britain is tantamount to flipping Parliament and the British public the bird."
The campaign against the sale of foie gras has attracted such high profile supporters as Sir Roger Moore, Ricky Gervais and Kate Winslet.
However, speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Fortnum and Mason's chief executive, Ewan Venters, defended the Piccadilly store's decision to continue selling the product:
“I am not disputing that there are definitely poor standards of foie gras production out there and some pretty horrible images. I am not saying it’s a perfect world — it’s not. But the steps we take are the best possible welfare standards in the production of foie gras,”
In recent years, however, a number of high-profile department stores including Selfridges, House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols have removed foie gras from their shelves.