Animal rights group Peta have scored a PR campaign triumph after making an audacious request to 80s pop outfit the Pet Shop Boys to rename their band the Rescue Shelter Boys.
Peta wanted to raise the issue of cruelty allegedly taking place in the pet shop trade and urge the group's millions of fans to consider giving a home to an abandoned or unwanted animal from an animal shelter.
The Pet Shop Boys, whose hits include West End Girls, Always on my Mind and It's a Sin, turned down the request, but nevertheless told fans that it raised an issue worth thinking about.
The idea was brilliantly simple and Peta deserve a huge amount of credit for spotting a sure-fire way of highlighting a serious animal welfare issue.
The organisation knew that they were putting themselves in a situation where they simply couldn't lose.
If the Pet Shop Boys agreed to the request, Peta would have made the biggest PR coup since Julia Carling changed her surname to Heineken. But if they refused, Peta would still get valuable media exposure for making the approach in the first place.