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Luxury fashion house Gucci under fire for using real tigers in ad campaign ahead of Chinese New Year

Shoppers with face masks walking past a Gucci shop in Hong Kong..
Gucci has come under fire for using a real tiger in an ad campaign. Chukrut Budrul/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images.

  • Animal rights groups have called out Gucci for using a real tiger in an ad campaign.
  • The campaign celebrates the 2022 Year of the Tiger, according to the Chinese zodiac.
  • Gucci said a third-party animal welfare organization was on set. It verified the animals were not harmed.
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Luxury fashion brand Gucci has come under fire for using real tigers in an advertising campaign ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday that starts on February 1.

The campaign was launched earlier this month to celebrate the 2022 Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac.

Animal rights groups have called Gucci out for using wild animals in its campaign.

World Animal Protection US said the campaign "exploits captive tigers to sell fashion" and is "misguided."

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"More tigers live in captivity in the US than remain in the wild," said the organization in a post. "Hunting, habitat destruction, and the climate crisis coupled with their popularity as 'pets' has pushed tigers to the brink of extinction."

China's Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation also protested the move in a post on microblog Weibo.

"We have no objection to the filming of wild animals in natural landscapes if it's within animal ethics," the foundation said. But filming the tigers for its commercial use violated "business ethics" and encouraged illegal hunting and the trading of endangered animals, said the foundation.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also blasted the Italian luxury house in an Instagram post, saying Gucci should stop "exploiting wild animals" in ads. 

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Gucci did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment but said a Facebook post on January 8 that American Humane, a third-party animal welfare organization was on the set on which the animals were present. It verified that "no animals were harmed."

 

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