It's Fake Fur, It's Fine

"Do you know how many polyesters died to make this coat!?"

Basically a work explicitly states that a character is wearing fake fur, to avoid upsetting any anti-fur viewers.

The main reason for this is having the glamour of fur without any of the guilt (or angry letters).

Note that simply wearing fake fur isn't enough. It could be for budget reasons as well. This requires the show clearly stating this In-Universe in some way.

In Real Life, some people claim some vintage furs they have are fake, to avoid harassment.

A Sub-Trope of Pretty in Mink.

Compare Fur and Loathing. Contrast Cruella to Animals.

Examples of It's Fake Fur, It's Fine include:

Comic Books

Although Veronica of Archie Comics wears fur a lot, often, when she says what fur it is, it's fake. This was also put in reprints of older stories, editing the older text.
In a Josie and the Pussy Cats comic, Melody gets upset when Josie wears an outfit with a fur collar. Josie tells her that it's orlon, but Melody being Melody protests that cute little orlons shouldn't be killed for their fur.

Film

In Clueless, Dionne chastises Cher for her fluffy backpack, but Cher says that it's fake.

Live-Action TV

An episode of White Collar mentioned that the furs being bought were fake.
In Something So Right, the male lead's ex-wife shows up wearing a fur coat, and the first time she says, "Don't worry. It's fake fur." He replied, "I don't think anyone's staring at the fur."
When Castle's mother went on a shopping spree, she said the leopard print coat she got was fake.
During a Comic Relief special, Fran Drescher showed up with a rack of furs. She held a black one, saying "It's fake, but you wouldn't believe what I had to fake to get it."
In Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Salem has a huge gambling debt to a guy (who later turned out to be a cheater), and the Spellmans are forced to work for him to pay it off. At his gambling hall, we see women wearing fur wraps. The furs are later stated to be fake when the Spellmans try to make a potion, and a hair from a fake fur is an ingredient.
In the Penn & Teller: Bullshit! episode on PETA, they make it clear that they have nothing but contempt for this trope, and consider it to be hypocrisy in its purest form. They point out while interviewing a PETA spokesman that he's wearing a fake leather belt, shoes and watchband, thus propagating the fashion even though his outfit didn't directly murder any animals.
In The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Maddie attracts the rage of a local anti-fur group when Upper Class Twit London reports that Maddie is wearing "fox fur". Maddie later gets the group off her case and explains to London that it's faux fur, which rhymes with dough.

Music

The Barenaked Ladies song "If I Had a Million Dollars":

(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I'd buy you a fur coat
(But not a real fur coat; that's cruel)

And parodied in the next verse:

(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I'd buy you a green dress
(But not a real green dress; that's cruel)

Toys

In the last couple of decades, most Barbie outfits have stated on the box that the fur is fake.

Video Games

The Sims 2 "Glamour Life" set offered a fur coat, but stated that the furs weren't real, even in the game.

Web Original

In Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People Episode 3, Marzipan admits she once bought a coat thinking it was made of faux fur before she learned it was made of Faux-faux fur, the furs of Faux-fauxs.

Other Media

When the website for the British paper Daily Mail post pictures of celebrities wearing fur, and about 2/3 of the mentions state that the fur is fake (even though some are real, but might have fooled the writers).