Mickey D's Chicken War

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is going after McDonald's (MCD) again, this time with a reported $500,000 ad campaign aimed at Mickey D's treatment of chickens.

PETA wants McDonald's to change the way its suppliers raise and kill the birds it serves.

McDonald's, of course, says its suppliers treat the chickens humanely. The particulars of the campaign aren't known because the only news outlet to report on the matter so far, the Wall Street Journal, didn't offer any details. And PETA has yet to issue a news release.

But the group has stepped up its criticisms of McDonald's, as well as other fast-food chains, in recent weeks after it declared in February that its eight-year "moratorium" on protesting McDonald's was over.

Last Tuesday, the group announced that a "PETA member dressed as Ronald McDonald will hang a giant chicken upside-down from scaffolding outside an Omaha McDonald's restaurant and slash the bird's throat under a banner that reads, 'McDonald's Cuts Live Animals' Throats.' The public slaughter is a protest against the suffering endured by the millions of chickens raised and killed for McDonald's each year."

The gruesome stunt, which was scheduled for the next day, apparently didn't get much publicity: Other than PETA's news release, there's not a word about it on Google News.

PETA says that gassing the birds is more humane. McDonald's differs, saying that knocking out chickens with electricity and then cutting their throats is just as humane. That's the method used by most chicken processors in the United States.

Mike Hughlett, a Chicago Tribune reporter, noted this week that "it's effectively not possible for a giant chicken buyer like McDonald's to source birds from gas-based slaughterhouses."

PETA has been putting similar pressure on Yum Brands-owned KFC.