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World’s longest animal welfare petition marched through London
NHS GP, TV doctor and author Amir Khan slams Pret's use of "frankenchickens" as 100,000 people boycott the popular coffee chain
London, October 13th - a 400m long petition was marched through central London streets and delivered to Pret A Manger’s head office today as 100,000 people pledge to boycott the chain after it broke its 2026 chicken welfare commitment.
NHS GP, TV doctor and author Dr Amir Khan slammed the chain for “putting animal welfare above profit” as he led several hundred “frankenchicken” campaigners in the stunt and rally outside Pret’s offices in Victoria.
It ended with Anima's CEO entering Pret’s lobby and accusing the CEO of "hiding behind his desk”, after ignoring an invitation to collect the pledges and an open letter signed by nine UK animal protection organisations.
Pret’s chicken comes from fast-growing "frankenchickens" raised on low welfare farms. But campaigners argue customers are being ‘conned’, as new polling reveals a majority of their customers mistakenly believe they’re buying chickens raised to high welfare standards,* and over 40% mistakenly believe the chickens are free range or organic.**
"Pret’s customers are being conned by empty promises," said Connor Jackson, Chief Executive of Anima. “Every day people eat at Pret with expectations of high animal welfare, and yet behind their polished marketing, frankenchickens are collapsing in their own waste from leg disorders and heart failure.”
"Companies like Pret need to put animal welfare above profit and honour their promise to do better for frankenchickens,” said NHS GP, TV doctor and author Dr Amir Khan. “Over 100,000 people have pledged to take a break from Pret until they do the right thing, and I stand in solidarity with them and with factory farmed chickens that suffer.”
Pret committed in 2018 to stop selling fast-growing "frankenchickens" by 2026. Their own reporting shows they’ve made 0% progress. Fast-growing chickens are bred to grow 5x faster than chickens used to in the 1950s. As a result, the birds frequently suffer from severe welfare problems such as walking disorders, heart failure and skin burns from laying in their own waste.
The stunt comes as a new analysis by Development Economics estimates the boycotts could cost Pret £3m in lost revenue in the first year alone. The firm has produced economic analyses for major UK businesses including Barclays, McDonalds and the National Farmers' Union (NFU.)
ENDS
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