Provocative Chicken-Friendly Ads Picked

20 February 2007

New Zealand Advertising Teams Make Finals In International Ad Contest For Peta

Provocative Chicken-Friendly Ads Chosen From 600 Entries Worldwide

Auckland – Two teams from New Zealand have beaten out more than 600 other entrants and qualified as finalists for PETA’s “People’s Choice” Award for their entries in a YoungGuns international ad contest. The contest is aimed at bringing awareness to the suffering of chickens raised for their flesh and eggs. The following are the New Zealand teams:

 Helen Steemson and Matthew Swinburne of the Auckland ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi for their ad entitled “Suicide”. The ad shows a chicken hanging from a rope next to the tagline “If They Could, They Would” and refers to the horrific abuse of chickens in animal factories.

Amy Thexton and Jessica Neale, also from Auckland, for their ad entitled “Factory Chickens Make Us Sick”. The ad features a sick bag imprinted with the stomach-churning facts about the suffering of chickens raised for their flesh and eggs.

Sydney, Australia-based YoungGuns awards are the only international awards given exclusively to advertising professionals under the age of 30. There were more than 600 entries from around the world submitted for the PETA campaign – more than the number of entries for similar YoungGuns competitions for Qantas and Nike. Three winners were chosen, but because there were so many other excellent entries, the top 20 runners-up have been given a second chance to be selected – this time for a “People’s Choice” contest at PETA’s Webby Award-winning Web site, PETA.org.

What’s wrong with eating chickens and eggs? “Laying” hens live in filthy wire cages that are so crowded that the birds can’t even stretch their wings and are often starved to shock their bodies into additional laying cycles. Chickens raised for their flesh are drugged and bred to grow so large that many become crippled from the weight of their massive upper bodies. Many have their throats slit and are scalded to death while they are still conscious.

“It takes a plucky concept to champion chickens as friends and not food”, says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. “Both New Zealand teams have created winning ideas to promote compassion for animals, and the message is starkly true: The best way to help stop the abuse of chickens is to stop eating them.”

For more information and to view the entries from all the winners and People’s Choice nominees, please visit PETA.org.

ENDS

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