Planning an Event
Fur Free Friday is the ideal time to educate your community and your neighbors as they begin their holiday shopping. If you can advocate in a busy shopping area, you can reach thousands of people. Your efforts can be as low-key as passing out anti-fur leaflets for a few hours or as elaborate as street theater. Below are some tips and ideas to get you started. Remember to register your event here and order your posters and outreach literature.
Choosing a Location
Getting Permission
Demonstrations
Marches
Leafleting
Information Tabling
“Field of Flags” Memorial Display
Hold a screening of “The Witness”
Choosing a Location
Ideally, your event should be held in a busy outside shopping area either near or in front of a retailer that sells fur. If your local fur seller is located in a mall and there is no legal spot to visibly demonstrate, any other department store selling fur would work as well. Please order or download our signs and leaflets.
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Getting Permission
Once you have chosen a location, you should check with the local police office to learn whether permits are required for the event you have in mind. Requirements for permits vary widely so it is essential to always confirm well in advance of your event. Some questions you might ask include:
- Do I need a permit? (Permits are usually easy to apply for but may take two or three weeks to process.)
- How often can I use this spot?
- Are there any restrictions on the type of equipment that can be set up?
- Are there any regulations on selling items, such as buttons and bumper stickers, at a table? (If so, you can ask for donations instead of charging for the merchandise.)
- Ask for several copies of the application form to save for future use.
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Demonstrations
The possibilities for anti-fur demonstrations are limited only by your imagination. Demonstrations have the advantage of attracting media attention, informing the public about your issue, and involving community members in grassroots activism. But if poorly planned or conducted, they have the potential disadvantage of reinforcing stereotypes of animal activists as irrational or combative. At the worst, isolated illegal or rude acts are sometimes depicted as the norm for animal advocates. Keep in mind that you are representing what we wish to be a mainstream movement, and act as such.
Make it a priority to have good literature and background information available to the media. The Demonstration Checklist will help you organize and coordinate your event.
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Marches
A march through your community is a highly visible event enabling you to deliver your message to a wider audience. The march may also begin or conclude with a protest action in front of a store that sells fur. Plan a highly visible route and inform the city or county of your itinerary. While walking, use the opportunity to distribute leaflets about your issue. If you are creative, you can make your march a colorful and even invigorating way to provoke community interest in your cause. Lead the procession with a bold costume, banner, or signs. Don’t forget to arrange for any necessary permits far in advance. Make sure nobody in your group litters during the march. Leave behind nothing but footprints and enlightened minds.
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Leafleting
Leafleting can be a great way to educate the public. We can provide you with leaflets and brochures. To be effective, keep the following tips in mind:
- Don't wait for people to approach you, walk up to them, and hand them a flier with a friendly smile and a positive comment like, “Have a compassionate holiday.” Then move on.
- Make eye contact to engage; but stay friendly, rather than challenging.
- Prepare some brief answers ahead of time to questions such as, "Who's doing this?" or "What's this all about?"
- Don't waste time arguing. Be polite.
- Try to get someone else to leaflet with you.
- Dress neatly and conservatively.
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Information Tabling
Setting up an information table in a public place is a simple and relatively easy outreach activity, educating hundreds of people in your community. Literature and other materials for tabling are available from IDA. You may want to integrate one of our anti-fur posters, glued to 1/4-inch or 3/8-inch sheet of plywood, into your display. You may also set up a video monitor and show IDA’s anti-fur PSA or “The Witness,” or make another kind of attractive display. (See Tabling Checklist). One advantage of tabling is that it takes only a few people to run a table all day. Always be friendly and patient while tabling. If someone comes up to the table and persists in creating a debate, DO NOT ARGUE. State your position briefly and firmly, express regret at your disagreement, and then immediately turn to someone else – you are out there to reach people, not debate. When you argue at the table you miss the opportunity to educate someone else who may be more receptive, and you appear less approachable to others.
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“Field of Flags” Memorial Display
A flag memorial is a striking display of the vast number of animals victimized by the fur industry every year. The Flag memorial works best where there is a large grassy lawn such as a college campus. For direction in setting up this amazing display, please see the World Week for Animals in Laboratories website. That page demonstrates the idea for animal victims in laboratories, but the same concept applies here.
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Hold a screening of “The Witness”
Visit the Tribe of Heart website to order a copy of “The Witness” – an incredible account of a Brooklyn construction contractor’s journey into animal advocacy. This is a must-see film for anybody who doesn’t yet consider him/herself an animal advocate. For tips on holding a screening, go to the Tribe of Hearts website.
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