Animal welfare activists have placed an enormous, car-sized fake dead chicken outside Pret A Manger at Oxford Circus to launch a major campaign. The gigantic 'frankenchicken' sculpture is a mechanical Pret wrap stuffed with a whole 'frankenchicken,' feathers and all.
Protest Against Fast-Growing Chickens
The chicken is outside Pret A Manger in Oxford Circus today as animal welfare charity Anima protests the chain using the “exact same fast-growing chickens as KFC, Nando’s and Burger King.” This begins a week-long tour of 15 Pret cafés throughout the city.
Pret is being targeted with a £1m public campaign as a response to the high-end café chain breaking its commitment to stop selling fast-growing chickens by 2026.
Broken Promise
In 2018, Pret promised to stop selling fast-growing chickens by this year. It has now delayed that to 2032 and not switched a single bird to a slower-growing breed. “Pret’s so-called commitment is simply a cover for its continued inaction,” says Connor Jackson, Chief Executive of Anima.
“Contrary to customers’ expectations, Pret is selling the exact same fast-growing chickens as KFC, Nando’s and Burger King, and there’s no reason to believe this will change. In the 8 years since Pret committed to phasing out frankenchickens, it has not transitioned one single chicken to a higher welfare breed.”
“We’ve tried to solve this with Pret behind the scenes, but instead they have simply kicked the can down the road. So we’ve now taken it upon ourselves to inform Londoners on Pret’s behalf, with the launch of the FrankenwrapTM—a monstrous but honest edition of Pret’s iconic chicken sandwich.”
Campaign Expansion
From today, frankenchicken ads will also plaster the London Underground, and full-page ads about Pret’s chickens will be placed in several newspapers throughout the week. Anima is encouraging members of the public to pledge to take a break from Pret until the café chain starts phasing out fast-growing chickens.
MyLondon has contacted Pret-A-Manger for comment.
