Farrow & Ball paint names “Dead Salmon” and “Smoked Trout” have attracted the ire of animal rights charity Peta, who say these descriptors should be changed to be more “vegan friendly” In a letter sent to the high-end home decoration brand, the organisation raised concerns over names that refer to the death or consumption of animals because they “normalise animal abuse” and “exploitation”. The company is known for using eccentric names for its products, such as “Sulking Room Pink”, “Potted Shrimp” and “Bamboozle”. But Yvonne Taylor, the Vice President of corporate projects at Peta, told the company’s colour curator that even names like “Au Lait”, which is French for milk, should be changed.
Taylor said in the letter: “Renaming animal product-monikered paints would be a fun way to appeal to more conscious consumers.” “Dead Salmon could become Magic Mushroom, Au Lait could become Lait de Coco and Potted Shrimp – well, you’re the expert, but you get the idea!” While Taylor praised the company for selling “cruelty-free” and mostly vegan paints, she asked for the naming of the paints to be “more inclusive”. “We wanted to get in touch with a simple suggestion to make the range even more inclusive: update colour names that normalise exploiting animals to make them vegan-friendly, too,” Taylor said.
“Dead Salmon” is described in the brand’s colour directory as a “modern eggshell” colour inspired by “the cloth o.