To the Chronicle Herald in Re: Distribution of Chicken
Literature in Schools
Product placement in schools is currently a hot topic.
Kids are seeing advertisements for Coke, Pepsi,
Kellog's, Campbell's etc in their classrooms,
cafeterias, and hallways. I do understand the
financial reasons behind these decisions, yet I
silently oppose the idea. However, when product
placement encourages violence and death, I need to
speak up.
Recently, my son brought home a colourful
cartoon booklet distributed by Nova Scotia chicken
farmers promoting chicken products. In this booklet,
two children learn all the glories of chicken
production from their grandfather. I discussed this
with my son and he said they were handed out in
school. He was particularly upset that the farmer
supposedly 'cared' for these chickens but then sent
them off to be 'cut into little pieces'. Needless to
say, he won't eat chicken anymore.
After doing some
research about the companies who sponsored this
publication, I realized how incredibly false the
information is. Chickens produced in Canada live in
horrible conditions. They are NOT free range, as the
booklet suggested. Male chicks are useless and killed
immediately, the female chicks have their beaks seared
off so they don't damage the 'meat' of the other
chicks. This is necessary because they live so
unnaturally packed into cages or barns, they peck at
each other. The information I learned from credible
sources, not trying to sell me anything, was shocking.
My son and I have since turned vegetarian and have
adopted a new philosophy toward other living beings.
Schools are for education, not for product placement
and profits, especially from industries who profit
from the suffering and death of other sentient beings.
