Viva! Day of Action Against Tesco:
Saturday August 21st 2004

Following Viva!'s exposé of conditions on a Tesco supplier's pig farm in 2003, we conducted a follow up investigation in July 2004. Our investigator found continued animal suffering in the Bowes of Norfolk factory farm including sows still confined to farrowing crates, overcrowding and lame pigs (see photos). In a disturbing sign of neglect, our investigator found a dead adult pig, left in a pen with live pigs over two separate visits. Of course, Tesco had refused to change their policies so we expected to find continued suffering.

Following an unproductive meeting with Tesco in January 2004, Tesco had mooted a further meeting as potentially valuable. We agreed but Tesco then found one excuse after another not to actually hold one. In response to this time-wasting tactic, Viva! held a second Day of Action against them on August 21st 2004. The Day featured demonstrations outside over 90 Tesco stores nationwide - a superb turn-out considering the very short notice for the day. Tens of thousands of leaflets exposing Tesco pig suffering were distributed and Sky TV News aired footage from the investigation and there was strong local media coverage.

Day of Action Against Tesco: January 24th 2004

On January 24th 2004, Viva! supporters from all over the country showed that people who care can still make a difference. On that day, one of Viva!'s biggest ever nationwide events saw a giant business brought to book by dedicated individuals - our Tesco Day of Action was an outstanding success.

Viva! exposed appalling conditions on Cherry Tree Farm, an intensive pig unit belonging to one of Tesco's major suppliers, last year (click here to find out more). Tesco's response to our investigation was to defend the supplier who owned the farm. In order to publicise both the findings of our investigation and Tesco's complacency about animal welfare, Viva! mobilised our supporters for a Day of Action against them this January. We printed tens of thousands of leaflets, post cards, posters and letters to the press and Viva! supporters responded with a flood of letters to Tesco's head office and a barrage of inquiries to our office about taking part in the Day of Action.

Tesco Meeting

In an apparent attempt to have us call off the protests, Tesco called a meeting with us early in January 2004. At the meeting it became clear, however, that they were quite unwilling to seek improved animal welfare standards from their suppliers as long as customers did not complain - and that they knew that most of their customers were completely unaware of conditions on their farms. Thanks to Viva!'s supporters, that has changed now.

Spreading the Word

On January 24th Viva! activists distributed a total of 70,000 leaflets about our investigation to the customers of around 200 Tesco stores. With protests taking place from Truro to Inverness and excellent media coverage bringing the message to hundreds of thousands more people, we succeeded in embarrassing the supermarket giant across the country. Outraged customers expressed their shock and horror at Tesco's involvement in such animal exploitation and thousands of them took our specially-designed "Tesco comment cards" to hand in to the stores. Many managers clearly had no idea how to deal with polite but dedicated protesters on their doorsteps and we can be sure that Tesco were completely taken aback by the scale of the day.

Our many, many local heroes include Tracee from Cornwall who travelled to seven different Tesco stores on the day, meeting Viva! supporters at each one - a total of over 150 miles! The fantastic group in Tyneside covered several stores and managed to persuade one manager to let them leaflet inside the shop itself. Some other Tesco managers were incredibly co-operative, one even bringing cups of tea out to the protesters, while others were very unhappy indeed. Kim in Harlow distributed about 800 leaflets by herself and caused great consternation to the staff at one store when they tried to remove all the leaflets and even snatch one from her hand. Kim is the proof that one person can make a difference - as she put it herself, talking about seeing Tesco staff chasing leaflets "it was all just me!". In fact, hundreds of the Viva! supporters who took part had never been involved in any kind of protest before and the feedback we've had from them has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the day. It was fantastic to see press clippings of Nell Adamson who took part in her first ever protest at the age of 92! After 48 years of vegetarianism, she is perfect proof that a veggie diet keeps brain and body sharp. Perhaps the last word on the protests should go to Gary from who emailed us immediately after the day - "I took part in the day of action on Saturday and would just like to say what a buzz I got! This was the first time I had taken part in anything like this and was overwhelmed with a sense of pride. I am keen for more, bring it on!!"

Media Coverage

These are just a handful of the dozens of press stories about the Viva! protests. Click on the clippings below to read the full article:

Thanks:

So many people took part in the Day of Action that we simply haven’t the space to name them all. If you organised a demo; took part in one; distributed leaflets in your workplace, school or neighbourhood or supported the day in any other way, we thank you, again, from the bottom of our hearts. Your support is vital to the work we do.