Viva! 8 York Court Wilder Street Bristol BS2 8QH Tel: 0117 944 1000 Fax: 0117 924 4646 email: media@viva.org.uk	14 February 2001 ASA Slams Meat Industry for False Animal Welfare Claims Three out of four of the Meat & Livestock Commission’s infamous pig advertisements have been judged misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). It follows a complaint by Viva! over 10 months ago against the massive campaign, costing £4.6 million and part-funded by Government. Almost every daily newspaper in the country carried the ads, urging consumers to buy British pork with the slogan ‘Look after the farmers who look after their pigs’. Viva! complained that both pictures and copy presented a misleading picture of pig production in Britain’s pig farms. The ASA upheld our complaint saying: “... the three challenged advertisements misleadingly implied that pigs reared under the scheme led a more free life than they did”. The MLC was asked to withdraw them and to take greater care not to mislead in future. The ASA found that consumers reading the ads would be unaware that most pigs were not kept outdoors, that most pigs are intensively farmed and that, despite the ads’ claims of good living conditions, they could consider the size of pig stalls to be ‘tiny’. “Almost all meat pigs in Britain are factory farmed,” says Tony Wardle, Viva!’s deputy director. “ The MLC boasts of high welfare standards yet never shows the public the real conditions in which these intelligent animals are forced to exist. These ads are typical - legalised animal abuse camouflaged and wrapped in meaningless quality assurance schemes. We know because we have filmed in over 20 pig farms and the conditions we have recorded are shocking.” Over the past five years, the ASA has found against the MLC on 13 points, most as a result of complaints by Viva! They include false claims that beef was perfectly safe to eat, that vegetarians are more at risk of iron deficiency anaemia and that vitamin B12 can be obtained only from meat. “The MLC seems to care little for the accuracy of its copy and for the welfare of pigs. Factory farming should be abolished not promoted with public money and deceptive advertising campaigns,” concludes Tony Wardle. Ends For further information contact Tony Wardle or Juliet Gellatley on 0117 944 1000