The animal welfare charity World Animal Protection has launched a campaign against KFC over its "whole chicken" advert, which has been the subject of many complaints.
The charity World Animal Protection has launched a campaign against the fast food retailer KFC, in response to KFC’s advert, which features a chicken strutting along to Gon’ Give It To Ya by DMX. The charity's innovative tactics involve using the same wall as KFC to carry a critical message.
World Animal Protection has said that the charity wants “the whole truth” about “the whole chicken” featured in the advert.
The KFC advert itself has received almost 500 complaints and been called "disgusting", but the Advertising Standards Agency has said it will not be investigating it.
World Animal Protection has called for KFC to improve its welfare standards so that “chickens are able to grow at a more natural rate and to have additional space to move freely”. It forms part of its Change for Chickens campaign which has been calling on the fast food retailer to improve their welfare standards around the world since 2016.
The KFC advert was accompanied by claims that the company is “proud” of their chickens, and “not afraid to show it”. It said that their chickens “have safe, comfortable and clean living conditions, a healthy daily diet, and regular health and welfare checks.”
World Animal Protection has said that it believes that such claims, combined with the video of healthy, strutting chickens in the television advert, are “not providing customers with the whole story of the real conditions endured by chickens on an industrial farm”.
It has written an open letter to Martin Shuker, managing director of Western Europe, which outlines the charity’s concerns and demanding the “whole truth” about KFC chicken.
The charity is also asking the public to sign its petition demanding KFC make a real #ChangeforChickens:
Last year, World Animal Protection conducted a poll of 12,000 people worldwide who eat chicken. It found that 79 per cent of people in the UK said they would not buy the meat from a fast-food chain if they knew it had suffered serious health problems as a result of living in cramped industrial farms.
Using similar branding
World Animal Protection has also used campaign materials which mimic the KFC branding and messaging to get its point across, and used the same advertising wall space in Shoreditch, London, as used by KFC to highlight its calls for KFC to improve its welfare standards so that chickens are able to grow at a more natural rate and to have additional space to move freely.
It has produced a time lapse video of the creation of the wall advert which can be seen below.
In his letter to KFC, Stephen Sibbald, UK country director of World Animal Protection, wrote: “As an iconic global brand, we believe that KFC has an unparalleled opportunity to be a world leader on chicken welfare.
“Major food brands are already showing that progress is possible, particularly in the US, where businesses such as Burger King have committed to meeting our campaign asks. You state that you take your responsibility to “people and the planet very seriously” and that you “want to be honest about areas where we still have more work to do”. We hope that these intentions extend to farm animals.”
Sibbald has also invited Shuker to meet with the charity and explore how they can “work together to give chickens a better quality of life”.
A KFC spokesperson said in response: “We go above and beyond Red Tractor standards to guarantee our chickens’ welfare, and our suppliers’ farms are subject to stringent audits against the highest industry standards. We’re proud of our chicken and we’re transparent about where our chickens come from and how they’re cared for. We have arranged to meet World Animal Protection to hear their perspective and take them through our approach in more detail.”
Speaking on its welfare standards, a KFC spokesperson said: “We take the quality and safety standards of all our food very seriously. Animal welfare is essential for high-quality food and is important to our customers, so we work hard to ensure the chickens we buy are well cared for. We hold all our suppliers in the UK and overseas to our own robust, independently audited welfare standards. This means all suppliers must meet or exceed UK and EU legal requirements and Red Tractor standards.”
Editor's note: The story has been updated to include comment from KFC
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