Miller Brewing Company Cancels Promotion of Kansas

January 2004

UPDATE! After contacting Let’s Help, Inc., a local charity that benefits from the chicken fly contest, about the cruelty inherent in this spectacle, the decision was made to stop using live animals–this ends a 22-year “tradition”!

PETA was contacted by a county commissioner in Kansas who was upset about an annual “Chicken Fly Contest” held in Berryton. During the event, terrified chickens were chased, harassed, and grabbed at by small children during chicken-catching contests. Next, children “plunged” a chicken from a make-shift mailbox that was positioned more than 10 feet in the air. After the chickens were shoved from the elevated box and hit the ground, they were roughly netted and mishandled.

After spotting Miller Brewing Company signage throughout the event, PETA sent video footage of the contest, as well as information about its inherent cruelty, to Miller executives. Miller responded, “The ‘Chicken Fly Contest’ is not an activity that we advocate nor wish to be associated with.” The company severed all ties with the cruel contest.