Olympian Nick Symmonds to Unveil PETA Ad at Third Street Promenade

Holiday shoppers in Santa Monica will get a friendly reminder to stick to cruelty-free personal-care products — that is, products that were never tested on animals — courtesy of Olympic runner Nick Symmonds, who will hit the Third Street Promenade to unveil his brand-new PETA campaign at noon Monday.

In his print ad and on the cover of PETA’s new cruelty-free shopping leaflet, Symmonds cuddles with his best bunny friend, Mortimer, next to the words “Leave Animal Testing in the Dust. Never Buy Products Tested on Bunnies!”

“I just can’t imagine that some of Mortimer’s brothers and sisters would maybe be subjected to the tests that some of these companies put them through,” Symmonds said in an exclusive PETA interview. “Mortimer lives a very blessed life … [and] all animals should be so fortunate and should not be subjected to these terrible, terrible tests.”

Every year, hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded, and killed in unreliable cosmetics tests, which are not required by law in the U.S. and have been banned in the European Union, Israel, and India. Fortunately, many companies — including LUSH, Urban Decay, Paul Mitchell Systems, and The Body Shop — use only modern non-animal methods to test their products and ingredients. PETA’s “Beauty Without Bunnies” guide to cruelty-free cosmetics is available here.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

— PETA press release