GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST JOSEPH IN NEW YORK CITY

The day began with a demonstration at the posh Saks Fifth Avenue department store where Joseph has a concession. Members of Win Animal Rights joined other New York and New Jersey anti fur campaigners to send a message to both Joseph and Saks.

Shoppers were horrified by the gruesome posters of bloody mutilated animals as protesters marched with their signs and banners, along Fifth Avenue for close to a mile, to the location of Joseph's flagship store on trendy Madison Avenue and E. 68th Street.

One of our favorite activists, Toodie, greeted each and every person who passed the picket line, offering them literature asking for a boycott of Joseph's until they stop selling fur products. Many promised that they would honor the boycott as well as call Joseph to ask them to stop selling fur products.

After being greeted and flyered, shoppers walked along the picket line as they may their way up Madison Avenue. As always, shoppers who dared cross the picket line to shop in Joseph's met with a chorus of loud voices and the pointing fingers of the enraged activists. "Your Money, Your Fault........Your Vanity, Your Fault.......Blood Money, Your Fault" These chants were shouted at each and every shopper that entered or departed the store. Our photographer captured images of customers that will be published in the WAR "Fur Hall of Shame" website. We plan to make it very uncomfortable to shop at Joseph's until all the fur is taken off their racks and out of their shop.

At the end of the protest line, fashion conscious shoppers, tourists and new students from local universities stopped at WAR's literature table where they stood in shock as they viewed a DVD of fur bearing animals being cruelly beaten and mutilated and eventually skinned alive. In many cases shock turned to tears as people were educated about the brutal truth of what it takes to put fur on Joseph's racks. WAR took the opportunity to display materials about their upcoming Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts. Many expressed an interest in joining future demonstrations. The heat is about to be turned up on Joseph in NYC.

A note of interest: Since WAR has been doing regular protests at both Joseph and Dennis Basso, both on Madison Avenue, we have noticed that other Madison Avenue designers have chosen to voluntarily remove fur from their windows. Could it be that they have read our literature or seen our bloody posters and have had a change of heart? Possibly....or maybe they just want to make sure that the aggressive, highly vocal and confrontational WAR collective doesn't pick them next.