In May 2024, Adfree Cities raised concerns to the Advertising Standards Authority that ads promoting the RSPCA were misleading citizens over the charity’s work to protect animals from cruelty, by failing to mention the RSPCA’s formal certification of intensive farming methods that systematically expose farm animals to cruelty, harm and slaughter.
Press contacts: veronica@adfreecities.org.uk, 07517 408513
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has greenlit an advertising campaign for the RSPCA that promoted a message of kindness to all animals, after Adfree Cities reported the ad for misleading the public by misrepresenting the charity’s own actions in relation to farm animals.
The video advert‘s representation of farm animals includes piglets, chickens and calves being hand-fed, cartoon chickens fleeing barns and cows running in green fields, with the closing message “RSPCA. For Every Kind”. The ad’s strong suggestion is that the RSPCA’s mission and activities regarding farm animals is to protect, respect and care for them – even to free them from industrial farming.
We raised concerns that this is misleading to the public since the RSPCA formally approves large-scale, including intensive, animal farming via its RSPCA Assured scheme. The standards set by the RSPCA for farms under its scheme, while the ASA noted that these are legal and above minimum welfare standards, include methods most people would think of as cruel, such as macerating male chicks, gassing pigs and factory farming.
In intensive or factory farming, there can be 40,000+ chickens (in some cases up to 64,000) or 2,000+ pigs per shed; animals have little to no outdoor access, and live in cramped and unhealthy conditions. This reality is very far from the impression given in the ads.
Despite, this, the ASA has concluded that “the ads were unlikely to mislead about the care standards afforded to animals at RSPCA Assured farms”. We are considering appealing the ruling, which we consider to demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the systemic mistreatment of animals under intensive farming.
“We need broad restrictions on advertising that conceals the way animals are treated in the intensive farming industry”
Nicola Wilks, Codirector at Adfree Cities
The ASA’s ruling also looked into issues of welfare breaches on RSPCA Assured farms, which formed part of our initial complaint. The ruling states: “We had not seen evidence that non-compliance with RSPCA Assured standards was a widespread issue in the RSPCA Assured scheme.”
But undercover investigations over the last 20 years have repeatedly revealed extremely poor conditions on RSPCA Assured farms, with salmon infested by lice, pigs dying from disease and chicks dying from dehydration. Further revelations of cruelty at RSPCA Assured abattoirs prompted the resignation of wildlife presenter Chris Packham and then MP Caroline Lucas as the charity’s President and Vice-President in 2024.
Nicola Wilks, Codirector at Adfree Cities, said: “The RSPCA is a loved and trusted charity working hard to protect animals, and it’s all the more important that its advertising is honest. Currently, the RSPCA is approving standards for animals across thousands of farms that, although above minimum legal standards, most people would think of as cruel. In this context this advert’s scenes of free, hand-fed and rescued farm animals are extremely misleading.”
“Advertising for the products of intensive farming is everywhere, misleading us about the unhealthy and cramped conditions experienced by animals in factory farms. It’s disappointing to see the RSPCA’s advertising contributing to this culture of misinformation. We will appeal this decision; but we also need broad restrictions on advertising that conceals the way animals are treated in the intensive farming industry.”
Ben Newman from campaign group Animal Rising, said: “This ruling reflects a broader discomfort and lack of awareness about conditions for animals on factory farms, fuelled by marketing that paints a false picture of welfare while animals continue to suffer behind closed doors.”
“The public doesn’t expect an animal charity to endorse factory farming, but many animals on RSPCA Assured farms live in exactly those conditions. It would have been a bold move for the ASA to call this out – but it’s no surprise they didn’t, given the controversy it might spark. People deserve the truth about what ‘high welfare’ really means.”
Matthew Glover, Co-founder of Veganuary and Managing Director of Veg Capital, said: “It’s hard to see how these adverts are not misleading. I’ve personally visited multiple RSPCA Assured farms, and what I saw was completely at odds with the images shown to the public. Practices like CO2 gassing of pigs and routine mutilations such as debeaking are permitted under the scheme, yet the adverts suggest animals are treated with care and respect. I struggle to understand how that aligns with the ASA’s ruling. We’ll be regrouping and stepping up our campaign to challenge this misleading narrative and push for the RSPCA to drop this welfare-washing scheme.”
The ad, which was made by advertising agency AMV BBDO, ran in 2024 and 2025 on social media, cinemas, TV, billboards and online.
Adfree Cities are developing our work on advertising that conceals the reality of factory farming, including by major food outlets. If you’d like to know more or get involved, email us: hello@adfreecities.org.uk or keep up to date on Instagram: @adfreecities.
NOTES TO EDITORS
ASA ruling on the RSPCA, Wednesday 7 May.
Screenshots of the advert: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z-dGJuDjGmQ9JE0xEjP50xLs_tvNHk_L?usp=sharing
Adfree Cities’ initial complaint to the ASA (May 2024): https://adfreecities.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DRAFT_-RSPCA-ad-complaint_2024.pdf
Adfree Cities is a network of groups across the UK who are concerned about the impacts of corporate advertising on our health, wellbeing, environment, climate, communities and the local economy. We lobby for policy change at national and local levels, showcase alternatives, organise locally to stop new advertising sites in UK cities, and produce resources to raise awareness about the impacts of commercial advertising.
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