Arnold on ethical marketing

CHRIS ARNOLD

Bullfighting is facing the same dilemma that fox hunting has faced in the UK. Growing public opinion is questioning animal cruelty and barbaric behaviour over tradition. Once a tourist attraction, is it now a potential turn off? Having just come back from Spain I was interested in an ethical dilemma that is splitting the nation. Should bullfighting be banned? Surprisingly, back in 2004 Barcelona declared itself an anti-bullfighting city, though it didn’t have the power to actually stop the fights. Since then there has been mild debate but recently it’s reached a tipping point, fuelled by celebrities like the cult actress Rossy de Palma. Who’d thought that bullfighting could be the very reason not to go to Spain? As I teenager I was dragged to a bull fight and took home a poster with my name on and a plastic bull with lances in, I have to say, even then I felt sickened to see a bull slaughtered for sport and have never taken my own kids to a bullfight. Many of the top matadors, like Jesulín de Ubrique, command the same status as top sportsmen and are certainly very skilful at what they do. Taking on a ton of aggressive bull with two sharp horns (Jesulín has taken on 6 at one time) while having to move, almost dance like, around the ring takes both guts and training. Few could argue that up until the bull is stabbed it is an impressive dance of wits between man and bull. I occasionally tune into American rodeo riding on late night TV and the two compare well. And although you can argue that these events stress the animals, even vets would probably argue that nature is more stressful. But rodeo riders don’t delight in killing the horse. That’s the difference and the one that could kill off bullfighting for good. Whilst in Spain I watched a series of fights on Spanish TV. The crowds applaud as the matador teases the bull, carefully playing him with his cape. Suddenly the bull gets the upper hand and one matador is thrown to the ground and stamped on. The bull won that one but his victory is only temporary. When the animal is finally lanced and stabbed with a sword, blood flowing from its mouth, the animal falls to its knees and rolls over, the crowd rises up in celebration. A sickening site that echoes the barbaric Roman animal games practiced 2000 years ago in the amphitheatres, like the one I’d visited only a few hours earlier in Meridas. The writer Ernest Hemingway described bullfighting as "not a sport but a tragedy". I have to agree. So why kill the bull? This is the debate that has even extended to Spain’s top public debate show, 360 and is dividing the nation between traditionalists (Spain loves its cultural traditions) and those that think animal cruelty is unacceptable in the modern age. Logically, not killing the bull makes more financial sense. A bull that wins against the matadors becomes a better contest, commands greater income and a big earning for breeding – just like race horses. Would you kill a race horse after it won the Derby? I know from the Co-op’s own research (and one I conducted recently) that people are passionate about animal cruelty. It’s a top ethical issue and people like Hugh Fernley Whittinstall have helped raise it even further up the agenda. In fact, in charity you can raise funds easier for animals than people. I recall one American ad many years ago that read, ‘It says a lot about America that last year we donated more dollars to save animals than people’. On the way back I did a survey at the airport. Of the small sample of people I asked, all thought bullfighting was barbaric and unacceptable. Two had been to a bullfight and said they left early. All thought it wasn’t good for Spain’s image. ‘Andalusia loves you’ screams out the headline on the cheesy posters at Gatwick, but not if you’re a bull. (Sorry about no para breaks - a technical problem with the site)