On Saturday 31 August, campaigning organisation Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals), is co-ordinating an international day of action against Adidas. Local activists and Viva! supporters across the UK and as far afield as Zimbabwe, the US and Australia, will be staging demos outside sports shops that stock Adidas goods, distributing leaflets highlighting Adidas’ part in the cruel and bloody kangaroo leather industry and urging shoppers to boycott all Adidas products until stop using kangaroo skin.

A harrowing new video produced by Viva! highlights the roll sporting goods companies play in the largest massacre of land animals on the planet. Called ‘Killing for Kicks’, it shows hunters in Australia plundering the outback, brutally killing kangaroos to supply the kangaroo leather industry.

The number one supporters of this barbaric trade are sports shoe manufacturers who purchase the skins and turn them into football boots. Adidas is the industry’s biggest customer for kangaroo skin, making (amongst others) the Predator boot - as worn and promoted by David Beckham.

The video shows how kangaroos are hunted in the dead of night, shot, quite often in the throat, hoisted on to a metal hook on the back of a truck and left hanging upside-down to die a slow, lingering death. This year, the official quota for the killing is seven million, but that does not take into account the million or more baby ‘joeys’ who are dragged from their dead mothers’ pouches and killed by being stamped on, hit repeatedly or decapitated. It also excludes the millions of nursing roos who, too young to fend for themselves, hop off terrified into the night to die of predation, starvation or neglect.

Intercut with these scenes are images of David Beckham wearing and promoting the Predator boot. Despite attempts by Viva! to persuade David to give cruelty the boot, he still chooses to affiliate himself with the kangaroo killers.

“People simply don’t realise that kangaroos are, quite literally, being killed for kicks,” says Viva! Director, Juliet Gellatley. “We are urging consumers to turn their backs on the cruelty and boycott Adidas until they stop using kangaroo leather. There are so many high-tech, synthetic materials available that there is absolutely no need to support the suffering. Adidas, and football players who wear kangaroo skin boots, have the blood of millions of gentle and unique animals on their hands - and feet.”

For further information on Viva!’s campaign, go to www.savethekangaroo.com. Viva!’s report into the killing, Under Fire, and scenes from the new video can all be viewed online. Copies of ‘Killing for Kicks’ are available from Viva! on request.

To speak to a Viva! representative, please call 01273 777688.