The highly spirited and usually in-your-face animal rights organization,PETA, has been strangely silent about the recent announcement of Oprah giving a free KFC meal to every American family.
PETA has had nothing but love for Miss O, and following her 30 day trial veganism as well as a program dedicated to exposing the horrors of factory farming, they even named her their 2008 Person of the Year.
So how do they feel about Oprah hooking up with KFC - notably one of the worst in the fast food biz when it comes to animal cruelty? We asked our friends at PETA, and here's what they had to say:
- "Chickens pay a high price for that free meal at KFC. The company allows its suppliers to scald birds to death in defeathering tanks and to break their wings and legs as they are shackled. When PETA heard about Oprah’s promotion, we immediately wrote to her privately to ask if KFC had deliberately misled her as it had misled consumers on its Web site. Considering how strongly Oprah has publicly criticized cruelty to chickens in the food industry, PETA believes that Oprah was likely the victim of the very consumer deception practices that PETA cited in its recent complaint about KFC to the Federal Trade Commission. In a letter to Oprah, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk wrote, “I believe you had no idea that KFC has refused to take any action to stop its suppliers from scalding birds alive and breaking birds’ wings and legs during live shackling.”"
So maybe Oprah truly was deceived by the chicken restaurant. Would that make them even more guilty, knowing that they would have to lie to get people to their restaurant?
By the way - word on the street is that KFC is no longer honoring the coupons, having a limited inventory of grilled chicken. They have begun issuing I.O.U.s.
