It never ceases to amaze me how companies that exploit and slaughter other animals twist and bury the truth in order to sell their “products” or boost their public image. And they always get away with it.Why is that? Oh right, because we let them. Otherwise, we’d be complaining and writing letters to those who regulate and guarantee truth in advertising.
If a billboard went up today advertising that cigarettes are good for you, or make you look cool, people would go ballistic. In fact, the ad would never get approved in the first place.
But when it comes to animal agriculture, we turn a blind eye. We allow false advertising, even encourage it, so we’re not reminded of how our meat and other animal products get to our table.
That’s why Ribfest uses a smiling pig in a chef’s hat (or coveralls) for its logo. That’s why milk and dairy products come in packages bearing pictures of happy heifers in idyllic fields. And that’s why the egg industry lies to its customers.
The question is: “Who Made Your Eggs Today?” And we have a picture of an egg farmer for the answer. Well my friends, the egg farmer didn’t make the eggs. He’s a man, a mammal, incapable of producing eggs. Chickens produce eggs, not humans.
If this billboard (one of many around the peninsula right now) was accurate, it would show a picture of six or seven birds, crammed into a battery cage, struggling to move around.Their beaks would be cut off with a hot blade (and no pain-killers) so they can’t peck each other – a stress-induced behaviour – and risk damaging the production units (the industry’s term for chickens). And they might even be covered in fecal matter dripping down from the cages above them. Not a pretty picture.
So instead of the truth, we have a lie: a smiling farmer instead of a tortured little bird.
The truth is, the animals who make your eggs are sentient. That means they can feel pain, experience stress and terror, and suffer, just like your pet cat or dog. We shut down puppy mills that treat dogs in this manner, but support factory farms that treat chickens in this manner. Why?
I’d like to see some real truth in animal agriculture advertising. Maybe then people would consider going vegan.
