Burger King planning to sell foie gras
Direct action saves lives... | 23.04.2008 13:06 | Animal Liberation
In a shameless publicity stunt, Burger King have announced that they will sell a burger that contains foie-gras in a few select London outlets. The reality is that they will probably sell very few - if any - but it is fundamentally wrong that this company (which is already responsible for the deaths of countless animals each year by selling burgers) is using 'torture in a tin' to raise its profile.
Please send Burger King a polite email to this address (the PR company who dreamed up this stunt):
burgerking@cowpr.com You can also phone Burger King's customer care line on 0845 728 7437 or write to them at:
Customer Careline
BurgerKing Limited
Lakeside House
1 Furzeground Way
Stockley Park East
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB11 1BD
Letter
Dear Sir/Madam
We were very disappointed that Burger King were considering selling a burger containing foie-gras – and we respectfully ask that you desist from this plan.
Foie-gras is the grossly enlarged liver of a duck or goose and is essentially a disease, marketed as a delicacy. Birds raised for this ‘gourmet’ cruelty are force-fed enormous quantities of food through a long metal pipe, three times a day. This process of deliberate and painful overfeeding continues for up to a month by which time the birds’ livers have swelled to ten times their normal size. Force feeding results in the premature deaths of around 1 million birds in France every year.
Foie-gras is not produced in Britain, as the Government has made it clear that its production would contravene existing animal welfare regulations, but sadly it is still perfectly legal to import it. Even the previous Government minister responsible for animal welfare, Ben Bradshaw, encouraged a consumer boycott. Its production has been outlawed in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Israel. Supermarket chain Lidl removed foie-gras after animal campaigning group Viva! contacted them and detailed the cruelty behind its production – wholesalers Makro quickly followed suit. Renowned department stores House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and Fortnum & Mason banned foie-gras on ethical grounds. Recently, London Mayor Ken Livingstone joined with Prince Charles to condemn foie-gras.
You can find more information on the cruelty involved in the production of foie-gras by watching Viva!'s on-line film here: www. viva. org. uk/foiegras.
You can also read the group's fully referenced fact sheet at: http://www. viva. org. uk/campaigns/foiegras/factsheet. html.
I hope that they will help you reach the decision to join the growing number of businesses throughout the UK that have pledged to go foie-gras free.
Yours faithfully
Source: Viva
Direct action saves lives...
Additions
Nottm Foie Gras Campaign
23.04.2008 15:45
https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/08/379271.html and a long history of campaigning against the fast food trade (Reggie the Veggie vs Ronald McDonald see
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/10/353559.html) It'll be good to combine these campaigns outside Burger King for a change, butt better still to persuade them to drop this stooopid idea.
To keep informed about Nottingham campaigns see the NewsGroup Archive or subscribe at
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/nar
Pat
e-mail:
nar@veggies.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.veggies.org.uk/nar/
Foie gras project ditched.
24.04.2008 13:37
http://www.viva.org.uk/mediareleases/display.php?articlepid=133
Edtheduck
Comments
Hide the following 7 comments
So...
23.04.2008 15:05
Porky
Took a slightly different tack
23.04.2008 15:39
Just wanted to congratulate you on the stirling work you have been doing in order to bring down Burger King and remove them from our streets. I have to say, I think the foie gras move was absolutley inspired. You have managed to find a single project that can simultaneously alienate all socio-economic groups while still claiming to BK that you were creating a premium product for them.
The wealthy obviously won't touch it as it will be seen as a cheap imitation of real foie gras. Although, the real fun starts when they try to get the poor to buy. Now Burger King can not only provide wholesome, nutritious foods but can also help educate the country's children through their restuarants. After all, how many 8yr olds from Canning Town are going to know what foie gras is?
Thanks to the creative vision of your company, we can now look forward to kids pointing at the menu and asking "Mummy, what's foy grass?" and them recieving an elightening lesson about how Mother Goose and all the little baby geese get to spend all day relaxing and lying down instead of having to run around getting tired.
Which is quite fortunate given that the metal pipe that was rammed down their throat can make movement a little difficult (along with breathing and living). Admittedly, one small pipe isn't really all that cruel, at least, not compared to the brutal daily torture of being force-fed with the equivalent of over 12kg of spaghetti. On the plus side, since they are pretty much crippled from the abuse they recieve, they don't need much space to move around. A cage slightly larger than the body is usually adequate as then the neck is forced to protrude through the bars and it makes the repeated abuse a lot more efficient - if you've ever had to torture 500 animals 3 times a day you'll know what I mean.
Now, little Timmy, did you want fries with your tortured goose sandwich?
Why are you crying, Timmy?...
MonkeyBot 5000
Where is your source?
23.04.2008 16:17
Dom Bore
It's for real
23.04.2008 16:21
plenty of mainstream media reports of Burger Kings £85 burger, although that doesn't mean the the company will actually bother doing it except for a photo op.
a burger king publicity stunt
On the case
23.04.2008 18:39
ALF
Cow PR
24.04.2008 06:54
Atlantic House,
40-42 Scrutton Street,
London,
EC2A 4HH
T: +44 (0) 207 684 6969
F: +44 (0) 207 684 6932
http://www. cowpr. com
Boris Johnson
This campaign is worth supporting
24.04.2008 09:12
Big difference.
DaanSaaf