PETA hits a fowl…or is it a foul?

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Today PETA launched one of it’s biggest smear campaigns against a single person (or twins in this case) in recent memory.

The victims this time are none other than the famous twins Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. You probably remember them as the cute scene stealing Michelle Tanner on the long running sitcom Full House. (Bonus points to those who remember them in New York Minute.)

PETA has often criticized the famous twins for both wearing fur and using it in their clothing lines. However, a campaign against someone of their stature usually means putting them on top of a “Worst Offenders” list, but PETA took it one step further today when they renamed the Olsen Twins, The Trolsen Twins.

They even went as far to create a whole new website dedicated to “Hairy-Kate” and “Trashley”. On the website you’ll also find less than flattering characters of the twins that portray them almost zombie-like. Through PETA website you can also buy Trolsen Twin Merchandise, watch an edited clip of the Full House opening theme portraying the twins as monsters and perhaps even more disturbing than the videos that show how animals are mistreated, you can actually dress up Mary Kate or Ashley in different types of fur clothing that is actually still dripping in blood. You can give Mary Kate a “dead doggy purse”, or dress Ashley up in some “kitty dripped mittens”.

PETA makes it no secret about their disdain for the Olsen twins, however this is where I feel the powerful organization hits a fowl…or is it foul?

Wearing fur or creating garmets with certain types of fur is not illegal. While in today’s society it may be frowned upon, the Olsen twins aren’t necessarily doing anything wrong. It just so happens that their fashion taste goes against PETA’s core values, so does that make it fair for them to be so blatantly attacked? Especially on such a grand scale?

Since when is it OK for anyone to create an entire website, merchandise, video games against someone we don’t like because of their believes? If the Olsen twins want to wear fur, we don’t have to like it, but unfortunately we do have to live with it. By PETA going to such extreme lengths to get their point across, they are encouraging the Twin’s core audience (teens) that if you don’t like what someone believes in or wears, you are perfectly allowed to do whatever it takes to embarrass them until they give in and change.

If we as a society were actually allowed doing this, you better believe I would have made “Calgarians don’t know how to Merge!” or “Hey Lady, why are so walking so freaking slow?!?!” t-shirts along time ago! But while I hate that people don’t know how to merge or walk at a reasonable pace, I can’t do anything about it. I can’t embarrass them. Life simply must go on.

I know that those comparisons aren’t exactly the same as butchering millions of animals, but that is not Fashion Designers faults, it’s the government that continue to allow the slaughter to happen.

If PETA wants the Olsen twins to change the way they dress and the clothes they design there is a better and more responsible way of doing so. Whether it be through a letter campaign or a public interview. However, trying to embarrass and bully Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen to the point where they are forced to change how they dress would not be tolerated in schools, so is it ok when the grown ups do it?