another worthy cause to get behind

I was out shopping this weekend in a ‘posh’ little business district downtown when I noticed quite a few people picketing in front of Victoria’s Secret. At first, I thought that perhaps there was some underwear union which was on-strike for the usual reasons…higher pay, better working conditions, a larger discount on their perfume and body wash needs…but soon realized that the picketers were of the scruffy college kid variety, a scruffiness that is never seen in a Victoria’s Secret employee.

College idealism, being what it is, I figured that this ban on Victoria’s Secret was obviously either 1) a protest against the objectification of women, 2) a plea to stop product testing on animals or 3) that this was an anti-fur demonstration…not that Victoria’s Secret is known for fur, but you never can tell.

As I neared the store, I noticed the large poster board signs nailed atop large wooden sticks stating that, ‘Victoria’s Secret is killing our planet!’. I really wasn’t sure how a few scantily clad underwear models were ruining the Earth, but luckily one of the protesters handed me a glossy postcard which clearly spelled out the crime that Victoria’s Secret was guilty of.

The card explained that they were protesting the vast amounts of trees which are killed every year to produce all the Victoria’s Secret that are mailed out. My first thought was that college kids must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as causes go. Long gone are the days of the ERA, equal pay for women, and even saving all those poor whales. And then, of course, I couldn’t help wondering just how many trees died to produce the signs they were waving and the fancy little postcards that they were passing out. Unfortunately, I didn’t actually read the card until I was well past the demonstration, and it was just too cold to go back and ask them.

Though I’m guessing that because the trees died for a worthy cause, they really shouldn’t complain.