Pet Shop Boys Won't Become Rescue Shelter Boys, But Thank PETA

by Jarrett Martineau | April 9, 2009 at 10:02 am

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Ever a group to do anything in the name of creating controversy and, thereby publicity (er...case in point), PETA sent the Pet Shop Boys a letter in which the animal rights activist group asked the UK pop duo to change their name to the Rescue Shelter Boys, to encourage the band's fans to consider adopting furry friends from their local animal shelter.

Thanks but no thanks was the band's response, although Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe admitted the stunt "raises an issue worth thinking about".

Thinking about, sure, but worth changing your name for? Not so much.

Thanks for playing, PETA — PR mission accomplished. Again.

"Peta Europe has written to Pet Shop Boys with a request they are unable to agree to," reads a post on the band's official website.

But the band admits the request "raises an issue worth thinking about".

Peta's letter requests the name change because of the cruelty it alleges takes place in the pet trade.

If the band were to agree to the name change, it continues, it would "encourage your millions of fans to consider giving a home to an abandoned or unwanted animal from an animal shelter".