‘Frankenchicken’ protesters crash Pret’s pre-launch opening in Spitalfields

Pret A Manger’s Spitalfields launch event turned into a PR disaster on 7 July when campaigners dumped a giant animatronic “Frankenchicken” in front of its first 200 customers.

Pret is facing significant backlash after breaking its promise to stop selling ultra fast-growing chickens by 2026. It originally made this commitment in 2018.

These “frankenchicken” breeds commonly suffer from deformities and heart strain due to being bred to grow too fast. They get slaughtered at around 35 days old.

In response to Pret’s backtracking, animal welfare activists have launched a £1m accountability campaign. This aims to expose Pret’s continued use of these chickens, until it produces a credible plan to phase them out.

Pret’s brand new Spitalfields store is due to open on 8 July. On 7 July, staff held a special pre-launch giveaway, promising free lunch for their first 200 customers.

However, customers received decoy lunch bags and leaflets from activists posing as Pret staff, whilst a giant frankenchicken prop stared back at them.

Connor Jackson, CEO of Anima, said:

Pret says they believe in doing the right thing, and we agree. That’s why today we made sure that their first 200 customers are informed about what they’re getting when they buy a Pret sandwich.

Pret claims they’re committed to phasing out these frankenchickens – birds bred to grow so fast that their legs can break. But they also said that eight years ago and they haven’t even started: they’ve simply kicked the can down the road with another empty promise.

We’re not falling for it, and neither are the 50,000 people, including Chris Packham, who have already pledged to take a break from Pret since this campaign began a few weeks ago.

Pret has made 0% progress towards phasing out frankenchickens.

In April, after meeting with Anima about its upcoming campaign, Pret released a new commitment to stop selling frankenchickens by 2032. That’s fourteen years beyond its original 2018 commitment. The plan contains no intermediate steps until 2031.

Chris Packham has accused Pret of ‘pretending’ to be committed whilst ‘doing nothing’:

When a company is committed to making a change for animals, they don’t wait 14 years to do it.

Anima and Packham are asking Pret to produce a credible plan to phase out fast-growing chickens that includes gradual steps in the next 1-2 years.

Featured image via Anima