PETA has turned its sights on 2010 Games organizers once again. This week, the animal rights group offered to buy Vancouver billboard space to condemn Canada’s seal hunt.
“I am writing to you today with a business proposal,” reads a letter addressed to VANOC vice president of marketing Dave Cobb.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals envisions spattered blood, a doe-eyed baby seal and the phrase “Canada’s Olympic Shame: End the Seal Slaughter.” The group’s offer makes note of the fact VANOC has had trouble selling advertising space in the lead-up to the Games.
Olympics organizers purchased $38 million worth of Lower Mainland inventory as part of a bid commitment with the International Olympic Committee.
Plans to sell ad stock to official sponsors and Games partners have fallen flat as companies cut marketing budgets to deal with the recession.
Earlier this month, VANOC revealed it was holding onto $12 million in unsold space, with six months till Games-time.
“We have significant inventory left, and this is proving to be one our biggest challenges on the revenue side,” Cobb said at the time.
This isn’t the first PETA attempt to latch its anti-seal hunt message onto the Olympics. In January, the group unveiled a violent parody of the Vancouver 2010 Inukshuk logo, battering a blood-soaked baby seal.
Last spring, US Airways rejected an offer to plaster airplanes with the “Olympic Shame” message. And PETA turned VANOC mascots Miga, Quatchi and Sumi into savage seal killers in June.
“As with all business proposals we receive, our team will review the opportunity that has been presented, and will respond directly to the interested party,” VANOC director of commercial rights Bill Cooper said in an email.
Geoff Dembicki reports for The Tyee.
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