Article about the PETA request for Hunters and Collectors to change their name.

Author:  Kathy McCabe, News Corp Australia Network.

Date: 2 March 2017.

Original URL: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/animal-activists-peta-anger-fans-by-asking-hunters-and-collectors-to-consider-a-namelift/news-story/ade8dba2da311eb945f4f01a896c60d2

Article Text

Animal activists PETA anger fans by asking Hunters and Collectors to consider a “namelift”

It’s a bit late to ask Hunters and Collectors to change the name they have had for 36 years. Picture: Martin Philbey.

PETA Australia has asked revered Australian band Hunters and Collectors to change their name in a desperate publicity ploy.

The animal activists sent the band a ludicrous letter suggesting they consider a “namelift” ahead of the duck-hunting season.

Among their clunky alternatives for a moniker the band have worn proudly since 1981 was the rather insulting “Hunters & Collectors of Antiques”, the retro-revival themed “Hunters & Collectors of Vinyl Records” and the gobsmackingly awful “Hunters & Collectors of Beer Cans”.

Their letter was also timed to coincide with the band’s reunion concert at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

PETA’s associate director of campaigns admitted the exercise of asking the band to change their name “is for the birds” but spun the publicity stunt as being for “the ducks and other birds who are shot, many of whom die slowly from their wounds.”

Hunters and Collectors have reunited for a concert at the Clipsal 500. Picture: David Crosling.

The band are on their way to finish rehearsals for their concert at Saturday night.

The letter PETA sent said

“Dear Mark, John, Doug, Jack, Rob, Barry, Jeremy, and Michael,

I hope this letter finds you well. On the eve of the duck-hunting season, we at PETA Australia have a request that may help save lives: Would you consider changing the name of your band to discourage people from hunting animals?

We feel sure that it was never your intention to promote the killing of intelligent, sensitive, and defenceless animals, but your name may nevertheless make hunting seem appealing to your fans.

Nearly 300,000 Australian waterbirds face an agonising death during hunting season, which opens in Victoria and Tasmania next week and is already underway in South Australia. This season, bag limits have increased to 10 ducks per day in Victoria, even though the waterbird population is the lowest it has been in 34 years. Horrifyingly, one in every four ducks shot is left to die slowly and painfully, sometimes of starvation or thirst, and many birds not considered “legal game” will be killed in the crossfire.

Mark Seymour from the Australian band Hunters & Collectors. Picture: Britta Campion.

As your Adelaide reunion show is coming up, now is the perfect time for a band namelift. Might you consider “Hunters & Collectors of Antiques”, “Hunters & Collectors of Vinyl Records”, or even “Hunters & Collectors of Beer Cans” as possible replacements? You could even enlist the help of your fans to crowdsource the holy grail of names on social media.

Do you see what we see? By agreeing to change your name, you would help raise awareness of the cruelty inherent in hunting waterbirds and give ducks a fighting chance.”

The band’s fans, who allegedly find hunting appealing according to PETA, vehemently disagreed with the organisation’s attempt to rope Hunters and Collectors into their anti-duck hunting campaign.

Comedian Miles Glaspole joked on Twitter that “I’m pretty sure PETA thinks that Hunters and Collectors are a Shooters, Fishers & Farmers splinter group.”

PETA @peta
@reyluisuh For more info, email mediainfo@peta.org.

Mark Trent @trent_mark
@peta @reyluisuh did you people honesty ask the hunters and collectors band to change their name?? It must be a joke right?
11:08 AM – 2 Mar 2017
1 Retweet 7 likes

Ben Krahe @benkrahe
PETA – wanting Hunters and Collectors to change their band name – no doubt the funniest thing ill hear today
11:06 AM – 2 Mar 2017 · Sydney, New South Wales
2 Retweets 27 likes

David Packer @mrdavidpacker
Has PETA only just heard of Hunters & Collectors now?????

davlin @Daholduk
@mrdavidpacker PETA Advertising brain storming: how can we cause controversy in Australia?
I know, Hunters and Collectors
11:02 AM – 2 Mar 2017
Retweets 1 like

Commander in Chief @iamshaunbailey
Dear @peta
Asking music royalty, Hunters and Collectors to change their name as it might promote cruelty is ridiculous
Please #fuckoff
10:06 AM – 2 Mar 2017
2 Retweets 4 likes

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