Rock Legend Chrissie Hynde Launches 'I'm Hatin' It' Campaign in Chicago

For Immediate Release:
February 16, 2009 

Contact:
Bruce Friedrich 757-622-7382 

Chicago, Ill. -- The eight-year-long moratorium declared by PETA on its McCruelty campaign against McDonald's is over. Rock icon Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders will unveil PETA's new "I'm Hatin' It" ad campaign--which hijacks McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" slogan--during a protest at McDonald's flagship restaurant in downtown Chicago, close to the company's Oak Brook headquarters. 

When:   Monday, February 16 at 2 p.m.
Where:  600 N. Clark (between Ontario and Ohio streets, on the west side of Clark)

Why are the Golden Arches once again in PETA's crosshairs? PETA suspended its McCruelty campaign in 2000 after McDonald's agreed to adopt some basic animal welfare measures, but the company has since refused to eliminate the worst abuses that animals killed by its suppliers suffer. 

"McDonald's means McCruelty as far as I'm concerned," says longtime PETA ally Chrissie Hynde. "On behalf of the billions of chickens who can't speak for themselves, everyone should tell McDonald's, 'We're hatin' it!'" 

Activists accompanying Hynde will wear body-screen TVs showing potential customers PETA's new McCruelty video, which includes graphic footage of how chickens killed for McDonald's in the U.S. are abused during slaughter. Other PETA members will be handing out leaflets and wearing signs saying, "Scalded Alive" or "Broken Wings and Legs." 

Currently, McDonald's allows its U.S. chicken suppliers to use a slaughter method that often causes birds to endure broken bones and abuse by workers. Birds often have their throats cut while they are still conscious and are scalded to death in tanks of hot water. PETA has privately urged McDonald's to require that these suppliers switch, over time, to a less cruel slaughter method called "controlled-atmosphere killing" (CAK), which is proven to eliminate the worst abuses currently suffered by birds. In 2005, McDonald's produced a report concurring that CAK offers significant animal welfare benefits over the conventional slaughter method, but the company has failed to require any of its U.S. suppliers to switch to the better method. 

For more information or to view the McCruelty video, please visit PETA's newly revamped Web site, McCruelty.com.