Chapter 7: Walking a Mile in Someone’s Paws

On July 14, 2014 the bravery of a young girl went viral.  The website, ArtFido.com, covered a story on Regent Street, London, that was heard across the globe…

24-year-old Jacqueline Traide is a performance artist who is so dedicated to raising awareness about animal testing, she willingly is “tortured like an animal” in the front window of Lush Cosmetics (which is in the center of a shopping plaza) for an entire day.  The article made the point that a full day really exemplifies to the general public that animal testing is going on at this very moment.

However, the article failed to mention that realistically, one day is not enough time for the public to fully grasp the severity of animal testing.  Even though the article glorified the signing of petitions, it is important to remember that when people see this inhumanity, they may or may not sign their names, and then move on with their lives.  If the demonstration lasted longer than a day it would have shown what truly goes on behind the scenes as well as had an uttermost effect.

This performance all began when the Humane Society International and Lush Cosmetics teamed up.  They established a campaign to abolish animal testing on cosmetic products.  This campaign spread globally and changed the viewpoints of many people.

The article successfully indicated that using Jacqueline as a puppet allowed people to relate to her painful expressions as a human, and then further understand the true suffering of animal testing.  This is very important for the viewers and readers to remember the next time they hear of the controversy.

Jacqueline Traide underwent ten hours of experiments that day which include: having her head shaven, chemicals being poured into her eyes, injected with a number of products, skin braised and more.  To make matters worse she was pinned down, force-fed to the point of choking, as well as strained into two metal hooks that kept her mouth open during some of these procedures.  Once the researcher had no more use for her, they threw her in the dumpster just as one would in a typical research lab.

Still, the article omitted some key aspects normally involved in animal testings.  For example, an animal is ordinarily observed and tested on much longer than a day, rather than being discarded almost immediately.  Typically an animal will await more tests in small, metal cages.  Also, the chemicals used on animals can cause many extreme and visible side effects, none of which were seen in the display.  One can only wonder if placebo drugs were used on Jacqueline Traide.  Ergo, this article did not mention certain features that are salient to understanding animal testing.

Nevertheless, this ‘day in the life’ of animal subjects made a bold statement that jump-started the legislation process needed to make animal testing of cosmetics illegal.  Sometimes that is necessary for change.  The article may have left out some flaws in the display, but overall it helped change the minds in regards to animal testing.  Jacqueline Traide is the voice of animals, who suffer silently day after day.

To see the full length video click the link below

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OR to read the full lengthed article, click the link below

http://www.artfido.com/blog/artist-gets-tortured-like-an-animal-to-raise-awareness-for-animal-cosmetics-testing/

“The Best Kind of Research, the kind that helps people without harming other beings” – Kathy Guillermo, VP Lab Investigations PETA

References:

• http://www.artfido.com/blog/artist-gets-tortured-like-an-animal-to-raise-awareness-for-animal-cosmetics-testing/

(information and all pictures are from this site)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOVfqZvh4Ao