Photo credit: Chinanews.com

Look familiar? That’d be Alice, hanging in … a Lush window? Whaaa? Oh, it’s part of a demonstration to protest “the barbaric practise of shark finning, where fins are hacked off live sharks and they are thrown back in the ocean to die. As well as being a horribly cruel fishing practise, the killing of sharks on the huge scale that is happening at the moment is also threatening the entire fragile ecosystem of our oceans,” says Alice. Neat! It’s actually a co-protest that sees Lush teaming up with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Alice goes on to describe the scene:

I suspended in the window of Lush on London’s Regent Street dressed as a mermaid for 15 minutes, hanging from two debarbed shark hooks (which, interestingly enough, are the hooks the suspension community uses as standard), while members of Sea Shepherd and Lush staff members handed out flyers and talked to the press about the campaign. Later in the day, the Lush staff headed to Chinatown to protest about restaurants selling shark products.

Noble cause? Check. Innovative technique? Yep. Good press for the suspension community? Indeed! Surely the erudite and gifted denizens of the Internets would agree. Right?

“This is again the horrible idea that shocking people helps. It’s like thinking that a public display of the most terrible experiments on animals can increase people love for them. I think this is just sick. Love brings love, disgusting stuff can only bring horror and fuel maniacs.”

“Horrible display of a female, when I saw the photo I said to me, somebody is sick.”

“Sad when our world has to resort to such tactics in order to draw attention to something. Every person has his/her own motive for doing the things they do. What’s happening to this world? Is it Money? Attention? Care-less hearts? Calloused hearts? I wonder if anyone walked away thinking about the sharks or applause for a masochistic girl? … Sad.”

Ohh … right.

Shark’s Fin Scoop [CNN]