Stopping supermarkets from ducking the issue
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin. Once upon a time, we used storytelling to raise awareness of the poor treatment of farmed ducks. Our story, Uncomfortable Tails, prompted 26,000 people to take action — and caused a leading UK supermarket to change its policy.
The RSPCA wanted to raise awareness of the poor treatment of the ducks we all buy in UK supermarkets, but research showed that distressing images of farm animals put people off taking action.
Our response was The Sad Story of Jennifer the Duck, an “Uncomfortable Tail” that kept people engrossed in what life is like for the majority of the UK’s farmed ducks and asked them to tell UK supermarkets to stop “ducking” this issue.
The storytelling style borrows from classic children’s animal stories, with beautiful (and factually accurate!) hand-drawn illustrations coming to life as the story unfolds. A nicely pitched voiceover blends a classic “Jackanory” children’s style with a hint of authority and sarcasm to convey the seriousness of the message. Add in a few nice touches of animation and we have a real page-tuner!
We then asked supporters to take action by emailing the CEOs of four of the UK’s worst-offending supermarkets asking them not to “duck the issue”. The response was fantastic with over 17,500 people taking action to support the campaign.
This prompted Tesco to meet with RSPCA and, after consultation with the experts, Tesco will be re-introducing an own-label whole fresh duck meat product in early 2013, reared to RSPCA welfare standards.