Veganuary and VFG founder Matthew Glover has launched a London Underground ad campaign telling consumers not to trust the RSPCA Assured label.
The ads, which show a picture of a pig with the tagline ‘Don’t Trust the RSPCA Assured Label’, will be displayed in 2,750 Tube carriages.
The campaign points consumers to a new website, welfarewashing.org.
“The animal freedom movement won’t be ignored or dismissed,” said Glover in a LinkedIn post. “This is just the beginning, and the pressure on the RSPCA to drop this welfare-washing scheme will continue to mount.
“If necessary, we are fully prepared to escalate our campaign further – financially and legally,” he added. “In fact, we’d welcome the opportunity to defend our position in court, keeping this vital issue in the spotlight.”
Earlier this month, Glover had called for the abolition of the scheme, calling it “misleading” and “meaningless”.
Read more: Does ‘welfare-washing’ RSPCA Assured scheme need a rethink?
Glover added that he and his team had requested a meeting with Chris Sherwood, CEO of the RSPCA, on 6 October, but have not had a meeting put in a diary.
The team behind the campaign are now calling for the trustees to meet with them.
“The RSPCA is misleading the public by welfare-washing animal cruelty in Assured farms,” Glover added. “The RSPCA’s mission is to prevent cruelty to animals, yet it continues to promote the farming and inhumane slaughtering of them.
“The RSPCA should not be legitimising factory farming or encouraging the consumption of animals, as it currently does with its RSPCA Assured ads.”
The move marks the latest step of a developing campaign criticising the scheme with Brian May resigning from its role as vice president of the animal rights charity due to “appallingly bad standards of animal welfare at member farms of the RSPCA Assured scheme”.
The organisation also launched an investigation and wider review of the scheme, including unannounced visits to more than 200 randomly chosen members, after hearing concerns.
An RSPCA spokesperson said: “RSPCA Assured has been independently proven to improve the lives of millions of animals every year and this advert grossly misrepresents this vital work. We are requesting that Transport for London remove it from the tube network immediately to avoid further misleading passengers.
“RSPCA Assured is a non-profit-making charity set up by the RSPCA with the sole purpose of improving the lives of animals farmed for food – anyone concerned about animal welfare who chooses to eat meat, fish, eggs and dairy should continue to look for the label.”
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