RSPCA Assured TV ad calls for public to support hen welfare this Pancake Day

The ethical food label and farm assurance scheme’s campaign, which launches officially this Saturday (11 February), calls on the public to support higher welfare farmers before tucking into their tasty pancakes by purchasing RSPCA Assured eggs.

The campaign is part of a major bid to back RSPCA Assured egg producers during bird flu restrictions and highlight that, whether barn or free-range, RSPCA Assured eggs are still higher welfare.

The TV advert, which sees a group of friends sitting around a table adding toppings to stacks of fluffy pancakes, was created by 2S Films. It is due to air on Channel 4 during Food Unwrapped, Grand Designs and The Great Pottery Throwdown from Saturday 11 February until Tuesday 21 February.

It will also be featured on More 4 and E4 during programmes including Gogglebox, Escape to The Chateau and Kirsty & Phil’s Love It or List It.

Viewers will also see the advert during Game of Thrones, The Sopranos and Succession on Sky channels, and The Great British Bake Off, Rick Stein’s Taste of The Sea and Mary Berry’s Quick Cooking on the Food Network.

The advert is part of a larger Pancake Day campaign for the charity, including social and press activity aimed at providing the public with information and reassurance about eggs during a time when there is understandably a lot of concern around hen welfare due to bird flu restrictions.

Since the end of last year, all poultry in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been housed indoors to protect them from the Avian Influenza disease outbreak. And since 1 February, British Lion Code eggs can no longer be labelled ‘free-range’ and consumers have instead seen ‘barn’ eggs flooding their supermarket shelves.

The aim of RSPCA Assured’s campaign is to offer reassurance to the public that whether free-range or barn, RSPCA Assured eggs are still higher welfare. This means the hens are given plenty of enrichment to exhibit their natural behaviours and keep them entertained indoors such as perches, items to peck at and areas to dustbathe, and they are also 100 per cent cage-free.

For more information visit www.rspcaassured.org.uk