In September 2000, PETA suspended its 11-month campaign against McDonald's after the company agreed to conduct announced and unannounced slaughterhouse audits of all its pig, chicken, and cow suppliers; stop purchasing from suppliers that failed audits; increase the living space for hens raised for their eggs; stop starving chickens in order to force them to produce more eggs; and implement less-inhumane chicken-catching standards. In June 2001, PETA halted its five-month campaign against Burger King after the company announced that it would adopt these same policies and others. In September 2001, Wendy's agreed to make these changes after two months of unrelenting pressure, including arrests at its restaurants around the country.
Now, many of those basic animal-welfare policies that KFC has fought against for years are beginning to become industry standards. But no matter how many industry reforms are introduced, eating animals still means subjecting sentient beings to a life of suffering and violent death. PETA is calling on consumers to continue boycotting KFC until it adds tasty vegan options to the menu.
Click here to read what KFC is saying about farmed animal welfare and PETA's responses.
April 10, 2009: PETA files a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding KFC's false and misleading statements about their so-called animal welfare policies. Compassionate citizens are urged to file their own complaint against KFC on the FTC Web site.
December 15, 2008: PETA launches a new holiday game on the Web site that lets players hurl snowballs at cold-hearted animal adversaries such as Madonna, Sarah Palin, the Trollsen twins, and, of course, Colonel Sanders.
June 4, 2008: PETA heats up its demonstrations in Philadelphia and Baltimore by setting up a giant "scalding tank" with two bikini-clad beauties sitting in "bloody" water and a sign reading, "KFC Scalds Chicks to Death," in order to highlight the fact that KFC suppliers continue to allow millions of birds to remain conscious while they are dipped into tanks of scalding-hot water meant to remove their feathers after they are dead.
June 1, 2008: PETA calls off its campaign in Canada after reaching a historic agreement with the company that coordinates purchasing chickens for all KFCs in Canada to bring about animal welfare reforms, and most Canadian KFC restaurants agree to introduce a vegan faux-chicken item. PETA's campaign continues in other countries.
January 8, 2008: PETA releases video footage taken inside two Tyson slaughterhouses in which workers were documented throwing live birds at shackles from up to 6 feet away, tearing birds' heads off, and urinating on the conveyor belt that takes birds to slaughter. Tyson is a major KFC supplier.
December 4, 2007: Canadian rocker Bryan Adams writes to John Bitove, CEO of most KFCs in Canada, to let him know exactly what he thinks about KFC's abuse of chickens.
November 17, 2007: PETA opens its Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky—right across the street from KFC's flagship store. The storefront includes a TV display that plays round-the-clock slaughterhouse and factory-farming footage from a KFC "Supplier of the Year."
August 21, 2007: Adult film icon, model, and entrepreneur Jenna Jameson does a photo shoot with PETA to promote our Kentucky Fried Cruelty tees and records a video about why she's upset about the company's cruelty.
May 17, 2007: PETA attends Yum! Brands' shareholder meeting and reads a graphic statement in defense of its animal welfare shareholder resolution, which receives almost 9 percent of the vote.
May 15, 2007: PETA releases the details of an investigation conducted at George's—a KFC "Supplier of the Year" slaughterhouse—documenting that birds were crushed by metal dumping machines, thrown by workers, impaled by metal poles, and scalded to death in tanks of hot water.
May 1, 2007: PETA unveils its brand-new KentuckyFriedCruelty.com Web site, a parody of KFC's Web site.
April 26, 2007: Members of popular bands including Thursday, Rise Against, Hawthorne Heights, Story of the Year, and The Sleeping are featured in a compilation video titled "Kick the KFC Bucket."
April 17, 2007: Pamela Anderson writes to Rostik's—a Russian chicken chain—as the company prepares to team up with KFC in Russia. Anderson urges Rostik's to encourage KFC to stop the worst abuses its chickens suffer.
April 6, 2007: For Good Friday and Easter, PETA launches a new anti-KFC leaflet featuring a statement from Pope Benedict XVI against factory farms. Activists across the U.S. hand them out at churches, and an ad runs in The New York Times' daily e-mail.
February 18, 2007: PETA members in yellow bikinis visit the Daytona 500 to pass out faux fried chicken and urge race fans to boycott KFC.
January 16, 2007: The PETA Foundation offers to give Yum! Brands a building in Norfolk, Virginia, that the company initially sought to purchase for $1 million (not knowing that the building was owned by its archnemesis) if the company would only follow the advice issued by its animal welfare advisors in 2005. The company declines.
January 10, 2007: Pamela Anderson sends a letter to U.S. Postmaster General John E. Potter urging him to deny KFC's request to issue a stamp featuring an image of Col. Sanders.
November 30, 2006: PETA submits a shareholder resolution to Yum! Brands calling on the company to improve conditions for the more than 850 million chickens it sells annually.
September 29, 2006: PETA crashes the NYC Advertising Week parade, and a giant "chicken" chases a "bloody" "Col. Sanders" alongside KFC's colonel icon in the parade.
September 26, 2006: PETA's giant "chicken" hangs and "slaughters" "Col. Sanders" in New York City.
August 5, 2006: PETA delivers "bloody" wind-up hopping chick toys to the neighbors of KFC executives in Louisville, Kentucky, calling on them to pressure their neighbors to stop KFC's hideous abuse of chickens.
June 20, 2006: Legendary composer Pundit Ravi Shankar writes to Yum! Brands CEO David Novak, letting him know that until KFC stops abusing chickens, he will be calling on people to join PETA's boycott.
June 6, 2006: Worldwide, activists dress up as Satan and hold 6/6/06 protests at KFCs, proclaiming, “KFC: Hell for Chickens.”
May 18, 2006: PETA attends Yum! Brands' annual meeting to present its resolution calling for improved animal welfare standards. Roughly 9 percent of the votes are in support of PETA's resolution.
May 2006: Although no ruling has been made yet on PETA's complaint about Canadian KFCs making false and misleading claims, sweeping changes are made to KFC's Canadian Web site, including removing the claim that chickens in Canada are kept in clean, well-ventilated barns.
April 28, 2006: PETA writes to KFC's new animal welfare panel (now composed largely of executives from its top suppliers) asking about any progress by KFC to eliminate the worst abuses that its chickens suffer. PETA receives no reply.
April 11, 2006: Pop star P!nk posts a petition against KFC on the front page of her Web site to coincide with her most recent album release.
April 2006: PETA begins meeting with Yum! Brands' top institutional investors regarding its campaign and shareholder resolutions.
March 6, 2006: PETA burns an effigy of Colonel Sanders in front of the world's first KFC, in Utah.
February 14, 2006: Pamela Anderson publicly announces that she will boycott the Kentucky Derby, not just because it's cruel to horses, but also because Yum! Brands is sponsoring it.
February 4, 2006: Revolutionary rappers Dead Prez sign PETA's petition calling for KFC to stop torturing animals.
February 1, 2006: Actor and model Traci Bingham writes to Yum! Restaurants International (KFC's parent company in the United Kingdom), asking it to improve the living and dying conditions of the chickens it sells internationally.
January 11, 2006: PETA launches the Web site www.YumInvestors.com, explaining the details of its campaign and urging investors in Yum! Brands to vote in favor of PETA's shareholder resolutions.
January 6, 2006: On the third anniversary of PETA's campaign against KFC, Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Kay Barnes proclaims the day “International Respect for Chickens Day.”
December 28, 2005: Pamela Anderson writes to Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, urging him to remove a bust of Colonel Sanders from the Capitol Building because of concerns that it endorses cruelty to animals.
November 30, 2005: Classic rockers Bobby Ingram (Molly Hatchet) and Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) join PETA's campaign by using their Web sites to call for a boycott of KFC.
November 11, 2005: PETA visits the neighborhoods of KFC's top executives to show undercover footage of KFC's suppliers on a large video truck.
October 18, 2005: KFC executive Harvey Brownlee announces his resignation. This is the second resignation of a top KFC executive following the launch of PETA's campaign.
October 13, 2005: Playboy Playmate Lauren Anderson protests in front of a KFC in Alaska wearing nothing more than a yellow bikini, ear muffs, and winter boots.
October 5, 2005: An “angry chicken” confronts KFC President Gregg Dedrick during a promotional visit to a KFC in Bethleham, Pennsylvania, holding a sign reading, “Gregg Dedrick Tortures Animals.”
September 30, 2005: PETA staffer Chris Garnett legally changes his name to KentuckyFriedCruelty.com in order to draw attention to the campaign. This receives international media attention, which draws more than 100,000 people to PETA's Web sites.
September 20, 2005: Rockers Tommy Lee, Phil Collins, and Matt Brann (Avril Lavigne's drummer) drum up support for PETA's Kentucky Fried Cruelty Campaign by auctioning signed drum sticks.
August 6, 2005: PETA staffer Matt Prescott reserves a spot on the Toronto Skydome Jumbotron for his marriage proposal to Lara Sanders and uses the opportunity to “engage” John Bitove—who is both a Canadian sports figure and the owner of most KFCs in Canada—by displaying a sign to the entire crowd reading, “John Bitove & KFC Cripple Chickens.”
August 4, 2005: Australian model and “The World's Most Downloaded Woman” Sarah Jane proclaims, “Chicks Agree—Please Boycott KFC,” in a new advertisement to be run throughout Asia.
June 11, 2005: Pamela Anderson responds to a patronizing letter from the head of most KFCs in Canada, John Bitove, with an opinion piece in the Globe & Mail, Canada's most prestigious newspaper. In the article, Anderson details the suffering that chickens raised for KFC endure before they end up in boxes and buckets.
June 6, 2005: Australian rockers Something for Kate appear in a new print advertisement against KFC. The ad features the band in a small glass box with the tag-line “Cramped, scared, abused—see life through the eyes of a KFC chicken.”
May 31, 2005: After releasing the results of an investigation at a slaughterhouse belonging to Tyson, one of KFC's largest suppliers, PETA sends a letter to KFC asking that it develop its own meaningful animal welfare program for factory farms and slaughterhouses.
May 25, 2005: Country icon Emmylou Harris appears in a new billboard urging motorists to boycott KFC, starting in Memphis, Tennessee.
May 2005: Following the resignation of Dr. Joy Mench and Dr. Adele Douglass in mid-2003, Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Ian Duncan, and Dr. Claire Weeks all resign from KFC's animal welfare panel, leaving the board with no remaining members having a clear, demonstrated interest in improving the living and dying conditions of the 850 million chickens killed by the company each year.
April 25, 2005: Actor Pamela Anderson narrates a “Kentucky Fried Cruelty” exposé to be given out at demonstrations and run on TV stations nationwide.
April 11, 2005: PETA sends a letter to KFC stating that because the company has shown absolutely no willingness to make meaningful animal welfare improvements, PETA will be relaunching its campaign.
April 8, 2005: During another conference call, PETA and KFC review the new recommendations of Drs. Grandin and Duncan. KFC has made significant changes to the recommendations, watering them down on a number of issues and including loopholes that render most of the animal welfare improvements meaningless.
April 5, 2005: PETA sends a letter to KFC informing them that if an agreement cannot be reached on Friday, April 8, PETA's campaign will continue.
April 4, 2005: During a conference call, PETA informs KFC that Drs. Grandin and Duncan have not signed off on KFC's plan of action, as KFC had claimed. PETA presents new recommendations from Drs. Grandin and Duncan to KFC, which claims that it will need until Friday, April 8, to review them.
March 28, 2005: During a meeting with PETA, KFC unveils its animal welfare action plan, which does not accurately reflect the recommendations supplied by the panel of experts. KFC claims that Drs. Grandin and Duncan have signed off on the plan, and PETA agrees to extend its moratorium while it consults with the experts.
March 18, 2005: PETA sends a letter to KFC Chief Operating Officer Harvey Brownlee requesting a meeting to discuss KFC's action plan.
March 11, 2005: Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Ian Duncan, Dr. Mohan Raj, Dr. Joy Mench, and Adele Douglass send their animal welfare recommendations to KFC.
February 25, 2005: PETA and KFC representatives meet in Manhattan. KFC agrees to solicit expert recommendations within 15 days and prepare an action plan within 30. PETA agrees to cease campaign activities during that time. Read PETA's letter summarizing the meeting.
February 2, 2005: The Rev. Al Sharpton narrates an eight-minute video called “KFC—That's Foul!” to be shown at demonstrations in front of KFC restaurants throughout the country.
October 28, 2004: PETA writes to David Novak in response to an undercover investigation into a KFC supplier slaughterhouse released by the animal rights organization Compassion Over Killing. Click here to read the letter.
September 24, 2004: PETA sends a letter to David Novak offering to hold off on community outreach activities in his neighborhood if he will agree to a personal meeting with PETA. Click here to read the letter.
July 26, 2004: PETA sends a follow-up letter to KFC regarding the Moorefield investigation, urging the company to adopt controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK) as a method of preventing similar abuse in the future. Read the letter and learn more about controlled atmosphere-killing.
July 22, 2004: PETA sends a letter to David Novak, along with a videotape showing hideous cruelty to chickens taking place at the company's Moorefield, West Virginia, supplier slaughterhouse, including live birds being stomped on, thrown into walls, and kicked like footballs. Click here to read the letter.
April 21, 2004: PETA writes to KFC to call attention to an investigation that uncovered cruelty at a KFC supplier in Maryland. Read PETA's letter and learn more about the investigation.
March 23, 2004: PETA sends a letter written by comedian Richard Pryor and civil-rights legend Dick Gregory to the top 100 shareholders of Yum! Brands, KFC's parent company, along with a video, narrated by Gregory, illustrating KFC's abuse of chickens. The letter asks shareholders to vote in favor of PETA's shareholder resolution. Click here to read the letter.
March 23, 2004: Billboards featuring Richard Pryor calling for a boycott of KFC debut in Harlem in New York City, inner-city Washington D.C., and on two major highways in Louisville, Kentucky.
March 4, 2004: PETA holds a KFC demonstration outside Yum! and KFC's headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. Activists display posters and banners reading “KFC Tortures Chickens” to KFC employees as they leave work.
March 3, 2004: PETA debuts “Buckets of Blood,” new campaign items that spoof KFC's iconic bucket. The buckets contain “Psycho Col. Sanders” cut-out figures; toy chickens with bloody, slit throats; and fake bones, blood, and feathers.
February 20, 2004: Grammy-nominated hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas send a letter to KFC, calling on the company to improve its treatment of chickens.
February 13, 2004: Print ads featuring comedian Richard Pryor debut in the West Wave, an African-American newspaper in Los Angeles. The ads mark the launch of PETA's ad campaign for major African-American newspapers across the country. Click here to see the ad.
February 10, 2004: PETA and Animal Connection of Texas stage a protest outside the Dallas headquarters of Yum! Restaurants International, KFC's international parent company.
December 24, 2003: PETA stages a Christmas Eve protest outside Southeast Christian Church, the church of Yum! CEO David Novak and KFC President Gregg Dedrick, to call attention to the executives' refusal to improve KFC's treatment of chickens.
December 10, 2003: In response to Yum!'s refusal to allow PETA to attend the company's annual conference for investors and analysts—despite the fact that PETA owns Yum! Stock—PETA stages a protest outside the conference in Manhattan.
December 8, 2003: Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, calls PETA to say that although PETA is an investor in Yum! Brands, PETA's representative will be denied entrance to Yum!'s annual conference for investors and analysts.
December 8, 2003: PETA writes to Yum! Restaurants International President Pete Bassi, alerting him to the abuse uncovered at Stolle, a KFC supplier in Saterland, Germany. Click here for more information.
December 1, 2003: PETA files a shareholder proposal with Yum! Brands, asking the company to prepare a report explaining how it is meeting its stated goal "to only deal with suppliers who provide an environment that is free from cruelty, abuse and neglect." Once approved by the SEC, the proposal will be included in Yum!'s proxy statement, mailed to all shareholders, and voted on at the company's 2004 annual meeting. Click here to read the letter.
November 10, 2003: Comedian-turned-activist Dick Gregory writes to KFC, asking the company to adopt PETA's recommended animal-welfare guidelines. Click here to read the letter.
November 5, 2003: Renowned thinker and activist Dr. Cornel West writes to KFC, asking the company to adopt PETA's recommended animal-welfare guidelines. Click here to read the letter.
November 5, 2003: Renowned legal scholar and social justice advocate Derrick Bell writes to KFC asking the company to adopt PETA's recommended animal welfare guidelines. Click here to read the letter.
October 17, 2003: PETA writes to Pete Bassi, president of Yum! Restaurants International, asking him to do something about the hideous abuse taking place at Venkateshwara Hatcheries, a KFC supplier in Pune, India. Click here to read the letter.
October 2, 2003: PETA sends KFC a detailed cost-benefit analysis of its animal welfare proposal, proving that the fast-food company would actually save money by making PETA's requested changes.
October 1, 2003: PETA writes to KFC's new president, Gregg Dedrick, asking him to seriously address the issue of KFC's cruelty to chickens in his new position. Click here to read the letter.
September 21, 2003: PETA's “Reality TV” truck visits the Sunday service of the church attended by Yum! Brands CEO David Novak and KFC's new president, Gregg Dedrick, to show graphic video footage of chickens' suffering.
September 15, 2003: KFC announces that its president, Cheryl Bachelder, has stepped down and will be replaced by Gregg Dedrick. PETA believes that Bachelder resigned because of her objections to KFC's cruel treatment of chickens.
September 14, 2003: Australia's Sunday Telegraph publishes an article detailing extensive cruelty and neglect at two farms that supply Ingham's, the country's largest chicken company and a main KFC supplier. The Telegraph also decried such abuse in a scathing editorial. Click here for more information.
September 12, 2003: PETA writes again to the neighbors of KFC executives in Louisville, informing them that we will be visit their neighborhood again on the weekend of September 20. Click here to read the letter.
September 4, 2003: PETA Europe, Ltd., writes to KFC Great Britain, Ltd., after a Sunday Mirror investigation reveals horrific cruelty at an 'award winning' supplier, asking again that the same animal-welfare standards proposed for Yum! in the United States be implemented in the U.K. Click here to read the letter.
September 2, 2003: PETA declares victory in its false-advertising lawsuit against KFC after the company agrees to change the false and misleading statements on its Web site and customer-service hotline.
September 2, 2003: PETA writes to Yum! Brands CEO David Novak with an updated and streamlined list of demands that KFC must meet in order to end PETA's campaign. Click here to read the letter. PETA writes to Pete Bassi, President of Yum! Restaurants International, asking him to make international animal-welfare improvements to eliminate the sort of cruelty exposed by the undercover U.K. investigation. Click here to read the letter. KFC replies to the two letters with a curt e-mail message, which fails to address any of the points made about KFC's lack of commitment to animal welfare. Click here to read the letter.
August 31, 2003: The U.K.'s Daily Mirror, one of the most widely read newspapers in the world, with a readership of more than 5 million, publishes the details of an undercover investigation of a KFC chicken farm, revealing hideous neglect and abuse. Click here for more information.
August 21, 2003: Updates to KFC's Web site reveal that Dr. Joy Mench and Adele Douglass are no longer serving on the company's animal-welfare advisory panel. The five-member panel is now dominated by industry representatives and apologists, not welfare experts, which means that even if KFC were interested in listening to the panel's advice, the best interests of its chickens would not come first.
August 20, 2003: KFC replies to PETA's August 14 letter, still claiming that it has adequate animal-welfare standards in place despite all evidence to the contrary. Click here to read the letter.
August 19, 2003: PETA dispatches a team of its top activists to Louisville, Kentucky, to drum up support for its “Kentucky Fried Cruelty” campaign. The team meets with community and religious leaders in the area as well as neighbors and friends of top KFC executives and finds that many are sympathetic to the campaign and wish to help. The team even meets with representatives from the office of the mayor of Louisville, who request a follow-up meeting.
August 18, 2003: After receiving no response to its previous letter, The Vancouver Humane Society again writes to KFC to point out that the fast-food chain is lying to consumers in Canada and urge the company to adopt PETA's recommended animal-welfare guidelines.
August 14, 2003: PETA writes to Yum! Brands CEO David Novak at his home address, asking for a meeting to once again explain the urgent need for improvements in the treatment of KFC's chickens. Click here to read the letter.
August 12 & 14, 2003: PETA writes to both firms bidding for KFC's new advertising contract, asking them to behave ethically and refuse to do business with KFC because of its cruelty to chickens. Click here to read the letters and here for more information.
August 8, 2003: PETA's Indian affiliate writes to the last KFC left in India, demanding that it close its doors. Click here to read the letter.
July 30, 2003: Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals writes to most KFCs in Canada in response to false statements that those KFCs in Canada made to consumers who wrote to them to inquire about their treatment of animals.
July 25, 2003: PETA writes letters to the neighbors of top KFC executives Cheryl Bachelder and David Novak, asking for help in convincing Bachelder and Novak to make improvements for KFC's chickens. Click here to read one of the letters.
July 24, 2003: Ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney pens an open letter to KFC, calling on the company to improve treatment of chicken raised for its restaurants. The letter runs as a full-page ad in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the daily paper in KFC's hometown.
July 16, 2003: Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders is arrested, along with PETA President Ingrid Newkirk and PETA Vice President Dan Mathews, while protesting outside a KFC in Paris, France. Click here for more info.
July 7, 2003: PETA files a lawsuit in California Superior Court accusing KFC of false advertising, based on false information disseminated through the company's Web site, telephone hotline, and news releases. KFC has made numerous false claims, such as that animals “feel no pain” while being raised and killed for KFC. Click here for more information.
June 30, 2003: Canadian actor Ryan Gosling writes to Yum! Brands CEO David Novak, asking him to adopt PETA's recommended animal-welfare guidelines. Click here to read the letter.
June 24, 2003: Jason Alexander is dropped as a KFC spokesperson, just weeks after agreeing to lobby KFC to make PETA's recommended animal-welfare improvements. It is speculated that the company feared that Alexander would further push it to make changes. Click here for more info.
June 23, 2003: An unidentified activist douses Yum! Brands CEO David Novak with fake blood and chicken feathers at a restaurant opening in Hannover, Germany.
June 13, 2003: The Vancouver Humane Society, one of British Columbia's leading animal-protection organizations, writes to KFC regarding the need for animal-welfare guidelines to be applied internationally. KFC does not reply.
May 30, 2003: Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, replies without addressing any of the points made in PETA's letter, simply stating that KFC will “continue to explore” animal welfare and will post progress on its Web site. Click here to read the letter.
May 27, 2003: After KFC President Cheryl Bachelder fails to reply, PETA writes to Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, expressing disappointment about KFC's assumed failure to keep its word, asking that the company take animal welfare and its negotiations with PETA more seriously, and stating that the campaign will go on as planned. Click here to read the letter.
May 16, 2003: Animal Alliance of Canada writes to Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, and Pete Bassi, president of Yum! Restaurants International, asking that KFC adopt substantive international animal-welfare guidelines. No reply is received. Click here to read the letter.
May 16, 2003: PETA President Ingrid Newkirk replies to KFC President Cheryl Bachelder's letter, pointing out that KFC's pledged improvements were not contingent upon any action from PETA and that Bachelder has no reason to back out of her promises. Newkirk tells Bachelder that PETA is working under the assumption that KFC does not intend to keep its word. Click here to read the letter.
May 16, 2003: More than a week after stating that she would put her pledges in writing, KFC President Cheryl Bachelder finally writes to PETA. She makes no mention of having pledged to make improvements and, instead, focuses on KFC's bogus claims and complains that PETA did not call off its campaign.
May 15, 2003: PETA representatives attend Yum! Brands' annual meeting to call on the company to make animal welfare improvements. A follow-up question from PETA is rudely interrupted by Yum! CEO David Novak. The representatives also meet with Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, to discuss the recent meeting between PETA and KFC.
May 7, 2003: KFC President Cheryl Bachelder flies to Norfolk, Virginia, to meet with PETA. At the meeting, KFC agrees to make several of PETA's recommended changes but leaves a number of important issues unaddressed. PETA, in turn, agrees to make some concessions but pledges to continue the campaign until all recommendations are adopted. Click here to read a full synopsis of the meeting.
May 5, 2003: PETA writes again to Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, asking for real change and detailing the reasons that KFC's May 1 news release is a scam. Click here to read the letter.
May 1, 2003: KFC issues a bogus news release about animal welfare, continuing its attempts to deceive consumers.
April 22, 2003: KFC spokesperson Jason Alexander meets with PETA President Ingrid Newkirk to discuss PETA's campaign against KFC. He is troubled by KFC's cruel treatment of chickens and tells Ingrid Newkirk, “I am your ally.” He agrees to meet with KFC to discuss the matter.
April 16, 2003: PETA replies to KFC's letter, proving that KFC does indirectly purchase from the Grannis plant and asking for KFC to sever all ties with the facility and call for a full investigation into the slaughterhouse. Click here to read the letter.
March 24, 2003: PETA President Ingrid Newkirk replies to KFC President Cheryl Bachelder, pointing out the lies in her letter and asking for a face-to-face meeting to further discuss KFC's lack of commitment to animal welfare. Click here to read the letter.
March 18, 2003: In response to PETA President Ingrid Newkirk's phone call, KFC President Cheryl Bachelder sends a letter filled with more lies and half-truths regarding KFC's so-called animal welfare program. Click here to read the letter.
March 16, 2003: Animal Alliance of Canada writes to Jonathan Blum, senior vice president Yum! Brands, and Pete Bassi, president of Yum! Restaurants International, asking for substantive international animal-welfare guidelines, which would cover Canada and all other countries, to be adopted by KFC. No reply is received. Click here to read the letter.
March 15, 2003: PETA President Ingrid Newkirk calls KFC President Cheryl Bachelder at home, pleading with her to make the much-needed animal-welfare improvements that PETA has recommended.
March 11, 2003: PETA writes to all members of the Yum! Brands Board of Directors, asking them to use their influence to encourage KFC to make the much-needed animal-welfare improvements that PETA has recommended. Click here to read a sample letter.
February 27, 2003: KFC replies to PETA's letter regarding the Tyson plant in Grannis, Arkansas, simply claiming that KFC does not buy chickens from that supplier. Click here to read the letter.
February 27, 2003: PETA writes to Yum! Brands CEO David Novak, informing him of the complaint against Tyson Foods and pointing out that former Tyson employee Virgil Butler's testimony proves that KFC's suppliers are not following the company's supposed animal-welfare standards. Click here to read the letter.
February 18, 2003: PETA calls on local authorities to file charges against Tyson Foods, a KFC supplier, based on eyewitness accounts of sadistic treatment of animals at a Tyson facility in Grannis, Arkansas.
February 10, 2003: PETA and Animal Alliance of Canada write to John Bitove, chair of priszm brandz, the parent company of most KFCs in Canada, asking that he ensure his company ceases making dishonest statements to the media regarding its animal-welfare practices. No reply is received.
February 5, 2003: PETA writes to John Bitove, chair of Priszm Income Fund, the largest Canadian KFC franchisee, regarding false statements that the company issued to the media and posted the Canadian KFC Web site.
February 5, 2003: PETA writes to David Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands, regarding additional false statements posted on the company's Web site. Click here to read letter.
January 29, 2003: PETA writes to KFC's main spokesperson, actor Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame, asking him to urge KFC to make improvements in the way that its chickens are raised. Click here to read the letter.
January 28, 2003: Twenty chickens are rescued from a KFC supply farm located 40 minutes north of Melbourne, Australia. Investigators found hideous abuse running rampant on the farm, further proof that KFC needs to drastically improve its animal welfare program.
January 16, 2003: PETA writes to David Novak, CEO of Yum! Brands, regarding the company's many false statements to the media. Click here to read letter.
January 14, 2003: PETA writes to Richard Lobb, director of communications for the National Chicken Council, regarding inaccurate statements made against PETA to the media.
January 8, 2003: KFC removes a news release that it actually sent to the media from its Web site and replaces it with one bearing the same date and title. The release remains clearly duplicitous. KFC also adds misleading “KFC Poultry Welfare Guidelines” to its site.
January 7, 2003: KFC issues a news release claiming that it has an animal-welfare advisory program, that it is conducting audits of its suppliers, and that its animal-welfare panel does not agree with PETA's recommendations. These claims are untrue. Click here to read KFC's bogus news release.
January 6, 2003: PETA launches a campaign against KFC.
November 26, 2002: PETA writes to KFC Great Britain, Ltd., asking that the same animal-welfare standards recommended for Yum! Brands in the United States be implemented in the U.K. Click here to read letter.
November 15, 2002: PETA writes to Yum! to state that the company's animal-welfare updates continue to ignore the most pressing issues of cruelty to animals. Click here to read letter.
November 6, 2002: PETA writes to priszm brandz, KFC's parent company in Canada, asking that the same animal-welfare standards recommended in the U.S. be implemented in Canada. Click here to read letter.
October 2, 2002: Yum! writes to PETA to provide yet another update but continues to ignore the important issues that PETA has raised in the past. Click here to read letter.
August 20, 2002: PETA writes to Yum! to reiterate that its progress so far is not nearly adequate. Click here to read the letter.
August 6, 2002: Yum! replies to PETA's letter by resending its letter of July 17, which fails to address the core issues of animal welfare raised in PETA's letter. Click here to read the letter.
August 6, 2002: PETA sends Yum! a list of animal-welfare improvements to which the company must commit by the end of September. Click here to read the letter.
July 17, 2002: Yum! writes to PETA, providing another update on its “progress.” Click here to read letter.
May 16, 2002: PETA speaks at Yum!'s annual meeting, calling on the company to make animal-welfare improvements. Click here to read PETA's statement.
May 9, 2002: Yum! replies to PETA's letter by providing an outline of the small steps that the company has taken, ignoring all the issues that PETA had raised. Click here to read letter.
May 9, 2002: PETA writes to Yum!, pointing out that the company's animal-welfare advisory panel has not met in more than six months and that little real progress has been made. Click here to read the letter.
January 23, 2002: PETA speaks with Brian Riendeau, vice president of government and community affairs at Yum! Brands, and Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, on the telephone. Blum refuses PETA's request to review Yum!'s forthcoming animal-welfare guidelines before they are adopted and chooses not to respond to PETA's inquiry as to what Yum! is doing to reduce the misery of chickens who suffer as a result of genetic breeding for unnatural weight gain. Click here to read the memo.
December 6, 2001: PETA speaks with Brian Riendeau, vice president of government and community affairs at Yum! Brands, on the telephone, pressing him on the fact that Yum! has still not made any significant improvements in the lives of these birds. Riendeau claims that by the first quarter of 2002, Yum! will have standards that everyone, including PETA, will be happy with. Click here to read PETA's letter detailing the conversation.
November 14, 2001: PETA sends Yum! a report on "broiler breeders," which has been reviewed by members of Yum!'s animal-welfare panel. Click here to read the letter.
October 30, 2001: Yum! informs PETA that its animal-welfare panel is still only having discussions and holding meetings and is not making any changes in the way animals are treated. Click here to read the e-mail.
October 30, 2001: PETA writes to Yum! Brands, expressing disappointment that Yum! has stopped updating PETA on the progress of its animal-welfare panel. Click here to read the letter.
October 18, 2001: PETA speaks with Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, on the telephone and asks for an update on the work of Yum!'s animal-welfare panel. Blum refuses to provide an update.
September 7, 2001: PETA writes to Yum! Brand's animal welfare panel recommending a list of animal-welfare improvements. Click here to read the letter.
August 21, 2001: Yum! updates PETA on the composition of the animal-welfare panel. Click here to read the e-mail message.
August 9, 2001: Yum! informs PETA that its animal-welfare panel will meet for the first time in early September. Click here to read the e-mail message.
August 9, 2001: PETA talks with Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, on the phone to discuss the members of Yum!'s animal-welfare panel. PETA expresses serious concerns about one of the group member's ties to the poultry industry. Click here for PETA's letter detailing the meeting.
June 18, 2001: PETA talks with Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands, on the telephone to discuss the makeup and structure of Yum!'s animal-welfare panel.
May 25, 2001: Yum! confirms the accuracy of PETA's May 24, 2001, letter, which spells out KFC's commitment to improve farmed-animal welfare. Click here to read the e-mail message.
May 17, 2001: PETA Director of Vegan Campaigns Bruce Friedrich meets with Yum! CEO David Novak and KFC President Cheryl Bachelder to personally present PETA's chicken-slaughter report to them. In addition, PETA addresses Yum! Brands' shareholders on the issue of chicken welfare, specifically discussing the issue of chicken slaughter.
May 17, 2001: PETA addresses Yum! Brands' shareholders on the issue of chicken welfare, specifically discussing the issue of chicken slaughter.
May 14 & 17, 2001: PETA speaks and meets with Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum! Brands (at that time known as Tricon Global Restaurants), KFC's parent company, to discuss a KFC animal-welfare program. Blum states that Yum! intends to form an animal-welfare panel and claims that he intends to “raise the bar” for animal welfare. Click here for PETA's letter detailing the meeting.
April 25, 2001: One and a half years after calling off our McDonald's Campaign, PETA writes to Tricon Global Restaurants to ask why it has not yet addressed the cruelty inflicted on chickens by its suppliers. Click here to read the letter.
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