PETA asks Pet Shop Boys for name change

[n2doc]

None of us are strangers to PETA's many oddball campaigns. Remember when it tried to re-christen fish as "sea kittens" because "who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?" Well, according to CNN, in its most recent extreme-marketing scheme, the organization asked the '80s synth pop band the Pet Shop Boys to rename themselves the "Rescue Shelter Boys" as a shout out to puppy mill pets everywhere. Not so catchy, right? But as always, PETA had its reasons.

PETA's letter to the British band duo Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe acknowledged that while its request might appear "bizarre," changing the band's name could help raise awareness at every stop of its new "Yes" album tour about the "cramped, filthy conditions" that many animals endure before being sold to pet stores. (I personally give PETA credit for knowing that the band was still in existence...not to mention releasing a new album. I had them pegged as 80s one-hit wonders...)

Not surprisingly, the musicians politely turned down the request, but they also dutifully posted the letter from PETA on its website saying that it "raises an issue worth thinking about."

As a quick aside for all you music trivia buffs out there, the duo did not actually meet in a pet shop, but in an an electronics shop in London in 1981. As the story goes, Tennant needed a piece of equipment for his synthesizer and, when he and Lowe started talking about music, the two hit it off. When they first recorded "West End Girls," the yet unnamed musical group chose "Pet Shop Boys" because they had friends who worked at a pet shop in West London who went by the same name. "It has actually no meaning whatsoever," Tennant told CNN. "Chris used to be embarrassed by it."

more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/pets/detail?entry_id=38535&tsp=1

[flvegan]

1. Yabba

dabba doo!

With all the pirates and tea, we haven't had time for a PETA thread!

:popcorn:

[underpants]

2. Wow that is hard to believe

The Pet Shop boys are still making albums?

[flvegan]

3. They're VERY successful in Europe to this day.

Saw them on Graham Norton a couple weeks ago.

[YOY]

5. They never stopped making hits in Europe.

Not one hit wonders in the least.

[Puzzler]

4. "I had them pegged as 80s one-hit wonders..."

They had a series of hits in the late '80s:

West End Girls
Opportunities
It's a Sin
What Have I Done to Deserve This
Always on My Mind
Heart

[Liberal Veteran]

6. Cut PETA some slack.

After all, it must be hard searching for a way to make themselves even less relevant than the Teabaggers.

[ccharles000]

7. how stupid

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Puzzler]

10. I guess I'm "nobody" then

[KingOfLostSouls]

12. 5 posts and already stupid

guess someone didn't get teabagged enough.

[Puzzler]

15. Hey, well... their latest album last month was #4 in the UK.

That hardly fits the "nobody" category.

[flvegan]

17. You will be missed. Shame.

[tuvor]

9. 23 years too late.

[KingOfLostSouls]

11. ......

[InvisibleTouch]

13. PETA does SOME good things...

...but when they pull crap like this, they make it hard to get taken seriously.

[Skip Intro]

14. Peta gets headlines for those beings among us who are unable to speak for themselves.

And they do it well.

I wish them all the luck in the world in their endeavors.

The plight of animals in this country and around the world is horrendous, obscene, and inhumane to the extreme.

I'm happy and thankful that there is an organization that knows how to bring this issue to the forefront.

Thanks for posting.

[DinahMoeHum]

16. This sort of shit is why I've suggested that PETA adopt a new slogan. . .

"Eat P***y, Not Meat"

:evilfrown:

[JeanGrey]

18. Oh for God's sake! Just when you thought PETA

couldn't get more on your nerves..................

:mad: