Processed Chicken Propaganda

For my service learning project this semester, I decided to make propaganda posters small enough to post on packages of meat in a grocery store and then do just that, in an effort to expose people to how their food is treated while it’s still alive. I chose to put out messages about chickens because, as Mason and Singer put it, “Chickens [are] kept in unnaturally large flocks, bred to grow too fast, and transported and killed in appalling conditions.” (Singer Mason, May We Eat Meat 3)

I made two separate versions of posters, one that displays the cruel mutilations to living chickens and their living conditions, and another card that shows what mechanically separated chicken looks like before it is pressed into “nuggets.”

I wanted to show at least a few people what their food goes through to become edible, and what I displayed was in the later stages on processing, after the fact that the birds’ biology is unnatural to begin with. “Generations of inbreeding for rapid growth have produced crippled birds prone to heart attacks and a slew of other health problems. They spend their short lives packed together by tens of thousands on manure-soaked floors, breathing dust and ammonia.” (Mason, Brave New Farm 161) This kind of manipulation to produce more food from chickens harms quality of food as well as the environment. Not to mention, these living conditions are sick. It’s disgusting, what these corporations are allowed to do to animals meant for human consumption. The idea that we put animals that have been through this into our bodies is disgusting.

Using propaganda, I want to discourage the purchasing of factory-farm produced meat, but in no way so I mean to discourage consumption of meat. Such a goal is against my personal beliefs, but also a fool’s errand. “None of us, whether we are vegan or omnivore, can entirely avoid foods that play a role in global warming. Singling out meat is misleading and unhelpful, especially since few people are likely to entirely abandon animal-based foods … The 90 percent of Americans who eat meat and dairy are likely to respond the same way.” (Niman) There are simply too many people that simply don’t care where their meat comes from. I myself was raised that way. In fact, I was only vaguely aware that chickens were the same chicken that ended up on my dinner plate as a child. I was never formally taught where my food comes from when I was younger.

After placing the cards on packages of meat, I did some grocery shopping, since I was already there, and came back to the meats about twenty minutes later. All my cards were gone! Some customer or employee must have removed them, which doesn’t really surprise me. People don’t like to be reminded of where meat comes from or what it goes through to get to the consumer.

It’s unlikely that I can affect much of a change in the eating habits of others, but by supporting a larger organization, and voting with my wallet, I believe that I can make a meaningful impact it the way food is viewed and consumed in this country.