Welfare Washing – The Welfare Myth
‘Organic’, ‘free range’, ‘grass fed’, ‘responsibly sourced’, ‘cage free’, ‘humanely raised’, ‘family farmed’ – these are all terms many of us will be familiar with, words designed to convince us that using animals is ok. This is called welfare washing – mostly unregulated, these terms mean next to nothing, they are effectively little more than marketing terms, designed to mislead the consumer whilst charging higher prices, and even the regulated schemes like Red Tractor and RSPCA Assured have time and again been found to be little more than welfare washing, with breeches of welfare standards regularly uncovered by undercover investigations. In 2024, extended investigations by Animal Rising disclosed over 40 farms that were in breach of the RSPCA Assured Scheme standards – this on top of multiple investigations over the years showing the same outcome. This is not a few ‘bad apples’ – this is systemic, and the schemes are riddled with abuses and violations, and with very little meaningful action taken to uphold these standards. Thanks to the brave actions of undercover investigators over the decades, there is an undeniable wealth of evidence that clearly shows this is welfare washing, and consumers are being mislead.
The UK prides itself on its ‘higher welfare’ status despite these investigations, and many consumers are deceived by the friendly and reassuring images of animals roaming freely, content and happy, living long and purposeful lives before a swift and humane death at the local slaughterhouse. This image, carefully crafted with multi-million pound advertising campaigns, has helped keep the UK in the welfare paradigm for over 200 years now. It’s clear too that all welfare reforms are always for the benefit of those that gain from killing, ensuring more efficient and more profitable ways of destroying animals at a young age to profit from their sale. Undercover investigations have time and again shattered that myth that somehow its ok to kill animals as long as we treat them well. One look at the outcomes of these investigations and we can be ‘assured’ that little good comes out of welfare reforms – standards are consistently abused, and even when they are maintained, the animals are rarely spared an early & brutal death.
The key principle that underpins veganism is that veganism is opposed to the willful commodification of all animals, regardless of the treatment or conditions that they experience. Veganism recognises that all animals have fundamental rights, and the key focus of veganism is on the use of animals, not the treatment. Even if the animals are treated very well, veganism is still opposed to their use and recognises that using animals as commodities for human gain is a violation of the animals fundamental rights. The goal of veganism is to end the use of animals, not to improve the treatment of animals and then kill them. Veganism is less about reducing suffering and more about upholding basic fundamental rights – the right not to be used and commodified.
The modern-day animal protection movement can sometimes be divided on this subject – some animal advocates will argue for welfare reforms in the belief that we should do what we can to help animals in captivity as best we can. Other advocates may be opposed to supporting welfare reforms, seeing them as perpetuating the use of animals and working against the principles of veganism, which are rooted in the concept of animal liberation. The vegan position is essentially an animal rights position and therefore vegans may tend to support the end of the use of animals more than the reform of the use of animals. Veganism seeks to end the use of all animals, not so much regulate their treatment. A more progressive position within the movement recognises welfare reforms as ‘soft rights’ along the path to the establishment of ‘fundamental rights’ for animals, embracing both animal welfare and animal rights reforms.
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