Victoria is coming clean with her dirty little secret. Victoria's Secret has been bombarding mailboxes with more than a million catalogs each and every day (395 million a year!) on virgin paper that comes directly from forests, some endangered. The retailer has been destroying one of our planet's most vital resources — North America's Great Boreal forest — for junk mail.
But Victoria has seen the error of her ways and will announce a major change in its catalog practices. See below. If you're in NYC, come by.
This shows that change can happen, corporate mobilization campaigns can work. The future is looking more and more green.
MEDIA ADVISORY
WHAT: Theatrical, colorful event to announce a milestone in ForestEthics’ environmental campaign to transform the catalog industry. Reverend Billy and his choir and a whole cast of characters will stage a spectacle to celebrate the victory — with street theater, costumes, dancers, camera-friendly high jinks and sound bites.
WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2:45 PM (Please arrive promptly by 2:45 for all the action)
WHERE: Victoria’s Secret Herald Square store, 565 Broadway @ 34th Street, Manhattan
WHO: Leaders from ForestEthics; Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping (www.revbilly.com); a coterie of chainsaw-bearing angels; concerned citizens
For more than three years, San Francisco-based ForestEthics has been educating the catalog industry about its negative environmental impact on the Canadian Boreal Forest. Two years ago, the group launched a campaign against Victoria’s Secret and shortly after began discussions with the company.
At issue throughout the discussions and campaign has been the impact of Victoria’s Secret’s catalog production on Canada’s Great Boreal Forest, which contains 25% of the intact, roadless forest remaining in the world. Stretching from Alaska to Canada’s Atlantic coast, the Boreal is a key regulator of global climate, providing one of our first lines of defense against global warming. It is critical habitat for many species, including endangered caribou and half of North America’s songbirds, and provides $93.2 billion a year in ecosystem services like air and water filtration. Currently, the Boreal is being logged at a rate of two acres per minute, 24 hours a day — an area the size of Manhattan every 5 days. Paper production accounts for nearly 50% of that logging.
ForestEthics spokesperson and Reverend Billy will be available for interviews. More info at www.victoriasdirtysecret.net.