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In a move that has me stunned, The Humane Society of the United States has launched an animal-welfare campaign using footage from a recent investigation at an egg-laying facility.The HSUS is using Compassion Over Killing's video of cruelty to hens to urge the International House of Pancakes to use cage-free eggs.
When I first learned of this campaign, I assumed The HSUS was stealing COK's spotlight by releasing its own investigation one day after theirs. In actuality, though, COK evidently gave The HSUS permission to use its footage, which baffles me.
COK launched a strong campaign yesterday with its video of hens crowded into cages with decomposing corpses. Michael Foods, the egg-laying facility, supplies eggs to Dunkin' Donuts and many restaurant chains.
COK urged people to contact the doughnut chain and ask them to start making vegan doughnuts, thereby not using eggs or animals' milk. The Washington, D.C.-based animal-rights group also encouraged people to post the video's link on Dunkin' Donuts' Facebook page, and many did.
Today, though, while people are still posting that link, some are asking Dunkin' to start using cage-free eggs. I wonder if that has anything to do with the campaign The HSUS launched today.
To its credit COK was clear in its request to video viewers. The campaign's "Act Now" page says the following: "Compassion Over Killing is asking you to contact Dunkin' Donuts urging the company to stop using eggs & dairy!"
Just one day later, though, The HSUS is sending mixed signals. Nowhere on its campaign page does it mention going vegan or asking IHOP to make vegan pancakes or French toast. The behemoth animal group makes this weak plea: "Tell IHOP to follow its competitors' lead and start switching away from battery-cage eggs."
To me, The HSUS is saying, "Ah, forget about going vegan and all that radical stuff. Just buy cage-free eggs." What kind of message is that to send -- especially just one day after COK released its vegan campaign?
Now, I'm not a fan of criticizing people or organizations that are trying to help animals. But The HSUS should have remained on the sidelines on this one (yeah, perhaps that's a subconscious Vick remark), and let COK run with the ball.
For those readers who don't know what's wrong with cage-free eggs, visit HumaneMyth.org. The hens -- whether they live in battery cages or in "cage-free" facilities -- all end up at the same cruel slaughterhouse after their egg production wanes.
(Image courtesy of HumaneMyth.org.)
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9 comments:
Of course one of the most horrible thing about that footage of male chicks being ground up alive was that they were actually the lucky ones. The female chicks, whether in battery cages or packed onto the floor in cage-free facilities, are born into hell, live their whole lives in hell, entirely in dark and misery, and die in hell.
Well, I think I understand the Humane Society's approach though. While it may be ideal in principle to call on Dunkin' Donuts and IHOP to stop using eggs and dairy, is it realistic that they will do this? What would be the impact to their business if they made such a drastic move? Or to their costs? I don't know the answer, but to get a corporate behemoth to change takes more than a few vegan voices. It takes a market demand from its consumers. And, unfortunately, I just don't see enough of that happening.
I think the Humane Society considers it more realistic to move them over to cage-free eggs first and then move them over to vegan products someday. Or maybe they should try to get these places to start providing vegan alternatives so they start creating new products and get over their fears that vegan tastes bad.
Of course cage-free eggs are not different from battery hens, but most people don't know that. It sucks, but sometimes change can only come incrementally. And maybe COK and HSUS together will get some concessions.
As far as inter-organization issues, I don't know enough as to what's going on between the two.
Ana, Paul Shapiro, who now works for The HSUS, created COK and still has close ties to it.
I realize that change comes incrementally, and I'm all for that. But I think The HSUS chose the wrong time to launch its campaign.
I think that when we make generalizations about how campaigns work and the psychology of consumers, etc, that we ought to have some solid research or evidence behind it. We don't have that when it comes to this statement that welfare campaigns accomplish more. Many don't bring meaningful change. For example, victory was declared over Burger King when they gave a vague promise to start using some cage-free eggs in the future. After victory, and Burger King getting lots of praise for being humane, their overall sales have gone up. So really this means they're buying more conventionally-raised animal products and making more profit than ever. Meanwhile we've all seen pictures of cage-free facilities which are hell on earth. So where is the victory there, except on paper?
I support the HSUS in most of what they do because they do provide an awful lot of help to animals in general. At the same time, I feel like animal welfare groups might be doing more harm than good with campaigns such as this, esp. given results like what Neva states above with sales increasing for BK after adopting a more "humane" option for their eggs. Once people start thinking that there even IS such a thing as "humane" meat/dairy/eggs, the question of ethics is all but out the window and much of the strength behind our arguments (i.e. the cruelty angle) is gone. I imagine people will be LESS inclined to go veg if they know that the animals they are consuming live "happy" lives.
Thanks, all of you, for posting your comments. :)
Justin, like you, I do support The HSUS in general. But I agree that in cases like this, they may be harming the efforts of animal activists.
i dont know what to think about HSUS. while they certainly have some good campaigns & are huge,they also have some very wrong idea's such as breed banning and recommending unnecessary euthanasia (the vick dogs are just one of many examples of this).
Thank you so much for this blog post! I know HSUS has been pushing cage-free eggs, but I didn't realize they were using COK's footage in this way. I just wrote a blog post about this issue, linking to yours:
http://bit.ly/BBk4E
Thanks, Vegan!
You wrote a great post, and I just commented on it.
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