100 Protests in 12 Weeks: Inside the Movement Holding Pret to Account

On the 5th of September, we held our 115th protest outside a Pret café, this time on Clarence Street in Kingston. This marks 100 additional protests to the 15 we held during the public launch of the campaign – a testament to the relentlessness and determination of the activists on the ground, to whom this post is dedicated.

As you can imagine, I don’t protest 115 times myself. A small but determined group of volunteers and action coordinators have taken to the streets every single week, showing no signs of slowing down. It’s been inspiring to see so many people get involved and want to support the campaign. Take Anna (below, right), for example. New to activism, she saw a WhatsApp message about the Clarence Street action and decided to join us. Twenty minutes later, she was on the pavement speaking with a young man heading inside to meet a colleague. He said this would be his last visit to Pret.

The public are consistently surprised that Pret sells frankenchicken. This is a key problem we try to address as animal advocates – most people want to do the right thing, but companies are not honest with them. People are overwhelmingly grateful to be told the truth, especially when we try to deliver it in as friendly and engaging a way as possible: that Pret sells frankenchicken, despite promising not to, and consumers can now act accordingly. And act they have. 95,338 people have pledged to take a break from Pret so far – and counting.

The response from Pret’s staff might surprise you too. In most cases there is mutual respect. It hasn’t all been roses, but we’ve put a lot of effort into fostering good relations with frontline staff and managers, and that good faith has been returned. Before the campaign went public, we visited over 200 Prets in central and greater London to give store managers and staff a heads-up about the campaign. I lost count of the number of free coffees we received or friendly chats we had.

When protesting, passers-by often gesture at our signs and say, “I saw this online!” Others I speak to have already heard about fast-growing chicken, saying that they’ve seen the Project Slingshot ads about it on the Tube, but didn’t think it would apply to a brand like Pret. It feels like London is having a ‘frankenchicken’ moment right now, and I’m encouraged by how quickly the message is spreading and how enthusiastically the public is responding. This video by Humane Hancock has surpassed 14 million views on YouTube alone.

Others may have heard some things about factory farming, such as battery cages or the use of hormones, but are still unfamiliar with frankenchicken. So we give them a quick explanation of how the industry’s extreme selective breeding led to agonising diseases, skin burns, and lameness. In my experience, it’s extremely rare to hear someone try to justify this. Most people see the cruelty for what it is – completely unnecessary and unacceptable.

Many of the volunteers in the campaign have never joined any kind of protest before. Goldy (below, left), an actress, decided to come along to a protest with her dog, Luna. Recounting her journey to caring deeply about animals, she explained “Luna spoke to me. She told me when she was sad, happy, hungry, and in pain. She changed my relationship with all animals. Joining Anima and their Pret actions enabled me to harness helplessness and convert it into a purpose.”

Jessica (below, left) has joined two actions so far. “I thought Pret had been using organic chicken because of their marketing as a premium brand and didn’t realise they used frankenchickens”, she explains. “I found this shocking. Discussing with people about animal welfare, hearing how shocked they were, and seeing people agree to boycott Pret shows that people care.”

Sarah (below, middle), another volunteer, travelled from far outside of London to join protests. “How Pret A Manger hopes its complete lack of ethics will go unnoticed is disturbing”, she says. “We’re calling them out on behalf of the chickens who face such an inhumane reality”.

And Mike (below, right) did a marathon 14 protests in one week, visiting London on his summer break from his studies at Cambridge. I’ve been inspired by his fearlessness when speaking with the public. His charm goes a long way in helping people relax and realise that we’re not there to make them feel guilty – but rather to provide them with valuable information about a company they may well know and love.

It’s worth pausing here to emphasise one crucial thing – we don’t enjoy calling out companies like this.

We always try to make progress for animals behind the scenes as much as we can. In fact, we tried for two years to find a path forward with Pret (you can read more about the reasons behind this campaign here).

We would have LOVED for Pret to do the right thing on their own, but sadly Pret had other plans. And that’s why we’re out here every week making noise.

Store Openings

We’ve also been gate-crashing Pret’s store openings. Again, it’s not that we enjoy being a thorn in Pret’s side. But these are ideal moments to reach Pret’s customers. When Pret opened a new store in Rainham, local councillors and the local MP gathered for the celebration – just in time to see our giant Frankenwrap right outside. We spoke to that MP while there, and they agreed to write to Pret and encourage them to honour their promise.

Perhaps most memorably, we met a seven-year-old boy who recited the entire story of the campaign from memory to us and his mum right there on the street – including how chickens have been selectively bred – thanks to a video he saw on YouTube. He seemed to know even more than we did!

Pret hoped their broken promise would go unnoticed. Over 100 protests and more than 95,000 pledges later, we’re showing them that their customers expect better. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to take a break from Pret until they honour their promise to stop selling cruel frankenchickens. You’ll join tens of thousands of people who care about animals.

Connor Jackson
CEO
Anima
+447504580011
connor.jackson@anima.org.uk