Marissa Garst
Corporate inaction spurs compassionate action.
On April 7, we gathered at Food Lion’s headquarters in Salisbury, North Carolina to protest its support of animal abuse.
Ending battery cages is an important step forward as we fight for a world without animal exploitation. That’s why we took our cage-free egg campaign directly to Food Lion headquarters and its nearby store—equipped with tens of thousands of petition signatures, Just Egg coupons and burritos, and protest chants.
As Food Lion executives clearly haven’t prioritized animal welfare, it was time to make it personal to get a big reaction from decision-makers. And reactions we got—including Food Lion employees intentionally driving through a giant puddle nearby to splash us, the head of security watching us from his car the entire time, and a group of five managers and corporate representatives nervously waiting for us at the store location.
But it’s not the first sign of controversy at Food Lion’s headquarters. A recent billboard near the company called on greedy corporations to “Get AHOLD of your cage-free [promises].”
Food Lion—and its parent company, Ahold Delhaize (The Giant Company, Giant Food, and Stop & Shop)–pledged to stop sourcing eggs from caged hens. In the nearly ten years since it made its pledge, the company still has not honored its commitment. As one of the largest grocery retailers in the US, if Ahold and its brands went 100% cage-free as promised, it would significantly improve the lives of millions of hens.
Egg-laying hens live in cages so small that they can’t express their normal behaviors, or engage in basic movements like spreading their wings. As legislators and corporate executives around the world take action against the practice of caging hens, Food Lion and Ahold Delhaize’s negligence is glaring.
In response to this prolonged silence, unhappy customers are rising up against the retailer. A Lady Freethinker petition calling on Ahold Delhaize and its brands to honor its cage-free commitment has amassed over 35,000 signatures—even more evidence that ethical sourcing is in high demand. By spreading public awareness about the unconscionable living conditions of caged hens, customers are giving a voice to the suffering animals Ahold Delhaize and its brands refuse to take meaningful action for.
One of the most effective ways to spark change are protests arising from pressure campaigns—which have historically been a driver of systemic change. The power of collective action is a necessary lever when decision-makers like Greg Finchum, Roger Wheeler, and Christy Phillips-Brown, among others, refuse to use their own power for good.
If you’d like to get involved in one of our campaigns, consider volunteering with The Humane League to make a difference today.
