Morrissey Calls on General Motors to Offer Vegan Leather

Tomorrow night, Morrissey is scheduled to perform at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, just outside of Detroit. Ahead of the show, he has penned a letter to General Motors, following a PETA video exposé that showed how the car manufacturer’s leather suppliers mistreat their animals. In the letter, Moz calls on GM to offer vegan leather interiors for their Chevrolet Volt and Bolt models. Read it in full below.

Earlier this year, PETA and the Smiths collaborated on a video game called “The Beautiful Creature Must Die,” which is soundtracked by an arcade-style instrumental of the band’s iconic “Meat Is Murder.” Recently, Microcosm Publishing announced a Morrissey-themed vegan cookbook.

Read “The Smiths Were Way More Subversive Than We (and David Cameron) Care to Remember” on the Pitch.

Mary T Barra
Chair and CEO
General Motors Company 

21 November 2016

Dear Ms Barra,

As I head to Detroit to play the Royal Oak Music Theatre, I’m writing to ask GM to make Chevy’s Volt and Bolt more eco-friendly by giving buyers the option to choose vegan leather interiors–including steering wheels and gear shifts. GM is named in PETA’s brand-new investigation of cattle ranches, on which animals are branded on the face, electro-shocked, and beaten before they’re slaughtered and used to make leather interiors for car companies, including yours.

More and more people are opting for vegan leather for the sake of both cows and the environment. A staggering 51 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. Animal skins also have to be treated with a toxic soup of chemicals in order to keep them from decomposing, and runoff from leather tanneries poisons vital waterways. 

Given that the Volt and Bolt are being marketed to eco-conscious buyers, entirely vegan options would only broaden their appeal. I look forward to your reply.

 Yours sincerely,

Morrissey

Comments are closed.