Former Baywatch star supports bill banning force-feeding of geese and ducks – but visit divides parliamentarians, and France

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

How do you promote a cause to a house full of mostly male members of parliament? Call in a celebrity, of course.

Pamela Anderson graced the corridors of French power on Tuesday when she visited the National Assembly to support proposed legislation that would outlaw methods used in foie gras production.

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The bill, which calls for a ban on the force-feeding of ducks and geese, known as gavage, has been proposed by the MP Laurence Abeille of France’s Green party.

Gavage is a process by which food is pumped into the bird’s stomach to enlarge its liver in order to produce the delicacy.

Anderson’s presence was a media coup for Abeille, who beamed as she welcomed the star to the press room at the assembly.

To the click of a thousand camera shutters, the actor delivered a simple message.

“I have come to France to express my opposition to an industry that is as cruel as the baby seal massacre, that of the bad treatment of ducks and geese for a non essential product, foie gras,” she said.

“I ask French MPs to abolish force-feeding … foie gras is not a healthy product and has no place in a civilised society.”

The appearance of Anderson, best known for her role as CJ Parker in the hit 1990s show Baywatch, was not to the taste of all French MPs, especially those who support the French gastronomic tradition that has split opinion in France and across the world.

Socialist MP Jean-Michel Clément told France Bleu radio: “I’m totally indifferent to her. To me she represents everything I dislike including the superficial … she does no honour to the institution I am privileged to have a seat in.”

Véronique Massonneau, another Green party MP, agreed. “It’s going to be a bazaar [chaos],” she said, while acknowledging that Anderson’s presence would guarantee fewer absentees. “But it’s a pity if we now need celebrities to fill the place,” she added.

Geneviève Gaillard, a Socialist MP, said: “I don’t know Pamela Anderson, I’ve never seen Baywatch, and I don’t believe her coming here will add much to the parliamentary debate. And that’s a pity.”

Abeille has admitted it was not her idea to bring in the former Playboy model, saying the invitation was organised through the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, with which Anderson has worked to protect seals.

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“It’s not my job to go looking for famous people, it’s the associations that do that,” Abeille told French journalists, adding that on a positive note Anderson’s appearance was guaranteed to draw attention to the issue.



As RTL radio said: “In the minds of many people, Pamela Anderson represents a red swimming costume … she is also involved in animal defence causes, and this is the second costume that the Canadian star will show in front of the French MPs.” Europe 1 was considerably less gallant, labelling Anderson a “celebrated bimbo”.

Hours before Anderson appeared in the Assemblée Nationale, French foie gras producers said they were shocked by the actor’s intervention.

In a statement, the foie gras producers’ professional organisation, Cifog, said they were “astonished that an elected member of the Republic should pull such a publicity stunt by choosing an American actress from the 1980s to condemn the production of one of the jewels of French gastronomy and culture”.



Cifog said it was “indecent” that she should be asked to back the ban when “thousands of jobs in the industry are threatened” because of the threat of bird flu.



The countryside movement Chasse, Pêche, Nature et Traditions (Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions) said Abeille preferred “birds inflated with silicon to the fine geese filled with the corn of the Landes and the Périgord”.

Abeille attacked what she described as “particularly shocking, sexist, macho and misogynist comments”.



Anderson, who has her own animal rights foundation, is no novice at drawing attention to animal rights causes. She is a campaigner for Peta, the organisation opposing the wearing of fur, and is an avowed vegetarian.



In December, she was admitted to the Kremlin in Moscow, where she criticised whale-hunting.

