Animal rights campaign group Peta has announced that it will exploit the changes to the UK’s strict parody laws when amendments to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 are brought in later this year.
The group has put together a mock-up of Fortnum & Mason’s website and logo and will change the retailer’s famous brand for the words “Force-Fed & Murdered” in a bid to shame the store for selling pâté de foie gras.
The current law in the UK is very strict on parody, to the extent that the spoof song Newport State of Mind, which has been a huge hit on YouTube was not allowed here, although it has been played extensively in other parts of the world.
In fact, Peta has already conducted a number of campaigns parodying brands in the US, where the laws are far more lax, such as KentuckyFriedCruelty and BloodyBurberry.com, which were not allowed to be shown in the UK.
Peta has been gunning for Fortnum & Mason for some time and the relaxation of the law means that it can create a website with the same font style, arrangement and colour as that of the store to push its message that foie gras is unethical and cruel.
The group has some high profile supporters and earlier this year singer Morrisey contributed £10,000 to their print ad campaign using compensation he got from Channel 4 after the broadcaster used a Smiths track without permission.
The objective behind the changes to the law was to overhaul what Professor Hargreaves called in his 2011 report, the “restrictive and archaic UK copyright laws”, in a bid to allow businesses to be more competitive.