
(CBS)
NEW YORK
There was a protest outside a Victoria's Secret store Monday morning, and it wasn't about the store's sexy lingerie.
Victoria's
Secret is destroying endangered forests, according to protestors in
Manhattan Monday. They say that the North American boreal forest is
disappearing because of the 365 million catalogs Victoria's Secret
prints each year.
The demonstrators are demanding that the sexy underwear company stop printing their catalogs on virgin paper.
"Those lacy panties that are advertised are coming at a cost to our planet's environment," said protestor Adam Weissman.
"They have a paper policy that is totally unethical and environmentally destructive," said Peter, another protestor.
Police had trouble cutting off the chains protestors used to on the front doors of Victoria's Secret.
First, extra large box cutters weren't strong enough.
A power chain saw wasn't enough either.
Finally, a hydraulic cutter did the job, and the protestors were led off in handcuffs to the 20th Precinct.
There was mixed reaction on the Upper West Side.
"I've already written to Victoria's Secret about this," one resident said.
"This is a minor issue in terms of what's going on in the world," another resident said.
A third area resident said, "I think it's a good idea to protest, but it won't make a difference."
A
spokesman for Victoria's Secret said they are using more and more
recycled paper in their catalogs, but the protestors say the changeover
is not happening quickly enough.
This was the group's third protest in three months. They say that they are planning more protests in the future.
The volume of paper used in catalogs has protesters angry. Daniela
Urzi models lingerie on the cover of a Victoria's Secret catalog. (AP
photo)
It's not the underwear that protesters targeted but the virgin paper
the catalogs are printed on. Here, Gisele Bundchen models the "Angels"
collection at the 2003 Victoria's Secret fashion show. (File photo)