Jodi Darwood
Lidl’s claims are being challenged as we complain to the Advertising Standards Agency.
Lidl are not having a good time of it as our campaign against them continues. Following the release of horrifying investigation footage from a farm that supplied Lidl with chicken, we’ve now submitted a complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) about Lidl’s welfare labels for chickens raised for meat.
We’re arguing that Lidl is misleading the public with its advertising. Lidl’s Birchwood branding claims that ‘all [Lidl’s] chickens are reared with care’ - a stark contrast to the Open Cages’ investigation, which reveals that chickens are routinely run over by forklift trucks during collection for slaughter.
Lidl’s British Indoor Welfare Windows state their ‘birds live in safe, comfortable housing.’ But, given the footage from the recent investigation into farms supplying Lidl, the chickens look anything but safe or comfortable. The extreme suffering shown in the investigation footage reveals chickens to be living in hellish conditions, many in pain or surrounded by injured or dead birds.
We’ve also criticised the image of the Welfare Window, which shows two chickens in a barn appearing to have plenty of space. Realistically, the farms Lidl supply from could have as many as 17 birds for every metre of space.
Finally, we’re contesting Lidl’s use of images of free range hens on their webpages specific to ‘meat’ chickens. Chickens raised for meat are a different breed to egg-laying hens. They are generally white, and are bred to grow extremely big, extremely fast. This is why we call them Frankenchickens.
It’s time for Lidl to stop selling fantasies to their customers and show them the grim reality of factory farmed frankenchickens. Lidl has blood on its hands - they must sign the Better Chicken Commitment.
~ Claire Williams, Campaigns Manager at The Humane League UK
We think the UK public deserve the truth. They deserve to trust their supermarket. Lidl is denying them that trust with its lies.
We’re not going to let them get away with it. On behalf of animal lovers across the UK, Lidl customers, and the animals, we’ll keep fighting for the truth.
Will you join our fight for animals?
