New RSPCA video advert

[splashgirl45]

I agree but I expect the actual truth might be too shocking to be put into an advert and then people might not watch the advert. It is a start though. The advert needs to be cute enough for people to watch. Making some of the animals annimated does that.

They are also rebranding as this is their 200 year anniversary.

It is quite common for charities to do rebrands or campaigns to celebrate anniversaries. I prefer the old branding.

I really do hope the RSPCA do more for farm animals there is a gap there I think apart from Peta who are too extreme for many people to support I don't know of any other charities that represent farm animals.

Maybe it’s time the general public were made aware of the bad conditions for some animals, half of them are oblivious about where their food comes from and IMO they need a bit of a shock to make them buy firstly British and ethically raised animals

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

I think the advert is a complete failure frankly. Perhaps I am dense but are they lecturing me, begging from me or trying to branch out into areas of animal welfare they historically do very little to help?

Well let's be honest here, they aren't the most proactive of animal protectors are they? Considering their vast amounts of donated coffers, for those people who still support them financially it is very poor return for investment in animal wellness and rescue.

Too many chiefs and not enough injuns and all those chiefs demand large salaries. I wouldn't give them the drippings off the end of my nose.

 

[splashgirl45]

I think the advert is a complete failure frankly. Perhaps I am dense but are they lecturing me, begging from me or trying to branch out into areas of animal welfare they historically do very little to help?

Well let's be honest here, they aren't the most proactive of animal protectors are they? Considering their vast amounts of donated coffers, for those people who still support them financially it is very poor return for investment in animal wellness and rescue.

Too many chiefs and not enough injuns and all those chiefs demand large salaries. I wouldn't give them the drippings off the end of my nose.

That’s why I won’t give them money but donate stuff to my local branch who seem to do a good job

 

[misst]

I am confused as well. Who is this aimed at? My 6yo granddaughter will love it for obvious reasons - animals and singing! However any sensible adult would surely just be put off by the trivialising and the sensationalising (the dog skinny dog) of suffering. I don't give to them and never will. They have been less than helpful with an injured cat that I couldn't get near (it got run over eventually running away from someone else trying to help it). They did the classic with a friend and kept visit her "starving" native pony who was on a bare field in summer for very obvious reasons (a fat fell mare prone to laminitis). They gave my frail elderly neighbour a rehome that attacked her dog and her and readvertised it as suitable for children! Dreadful organisation. Dreadful advert. How much did that cost anyway!

 

[Goldenstar]

Completely agree. I think I've worked out strategy now and this advert of the first step in that.


Collecting money for companion animals and money to fight legal farm practices is a awkward fit under one charity. I suspect they may be planning a move away from the companion animals, on the basis that they are well covered by other charities or soon would be if they stepped away. I get the impression that their horse work, for example, is largely transferred to WHW these days. That would also relieve the RSPCA of the enormous costs of prosecution, and let them move away from being seen as bad guys prosecuting ill and old people.

I suspect in the short term this will create a horrendous hole in companion animal welfare because I don't see the CPS (or another charity) stepping up to finance these cases any time soon.

But as part of a long term strategy to rebrand the RSPCA for a younger audience, concerned with ecosystems and factory farming, the advert now makes perfect sense.
.

There has never been any reason for the RSPCA to prosecute the old or ill they are completely free agents to chose which cases they take to law .

If they move away from this then the state will be forced to step up it will way past time .

 

[SO1]

Completely agree. I think I've worked out strategy now and this advert of the first step in that.


Collecting money for companion animals and money to fight legal farm practices is a awkward fit under one charity. I suspect they may be planning a move away from the companion animals, on the basis that they are well covered by other charities or soon would be if they stepped away. I get the impression that their horse work, for example, is largely transferred to WHW these days. That would also relieve the RSPCA of the enormous costs of prosecution, and let them move away from being seen as bad guys prosecuting ill and old people.

I suspect in the short term this will create a horrendous hole in companion animal welfare because I don't see the CPS (or another charity) stepping up to finance these cases any time soon.

But as part of a long term strategy to rebrand the RSPCA for a younger audience, concerned with ecosystems and factory farming, the advert now makes perfect sense.
.

I agree it makes sense for them to move away from companion animals and specialise more in farm and wildlife. There are so many other organisations that specialise in companion animals and it is actually more cost effective to have less charities doing the same thing.

The younger generations are more likely to be vegetarian, vegan, and more concerned with farm animals welfare and the environment and wildlife perhaps than the older generations with the companion animals at home. I do think the younger generations will be less inclined to have pets for lifestyle reasons and potentially costs.

I think people who want to donate to companion animals are more likely to donate to Blue Cross, or species specific charities. I donate to Blue Cross and they were fantastic when I needed to use their pet bereavement support line. I also am a BSH member for the equine side of things because of their "changing lives through horses" and friends at the end schemes.

If the RSPCA came out really strongly about pushing for improvements in farm animal welfare and the protection of green spaces for wildlife to flourish and the continuation of anti fox hunting and trying to find a way of shutting down rogue hunts I might be more inclined to donate to them. I think they try to cover too many bases and that makes it hard. If you specialise it makes it easier you don't need welfare officers who are experts in all animals.

 

[kathantoinette]

Just out of interest… how many have heard of RSPCA Assured? I work in the poultry farming sector and our sites are accredited to this Standard.

Maybe RSPCA should have spent the money used on that dreadful advert to raise awareness of this Standard which is already in place for livestock instead of blurring the lines between companion animals, farmed animals and wild animals/insects.

Here’s a link to the webpage if anyone is interested https://www.rspcaassured.org.uk/about-us/our-governance/the-history-of-rspca-assured/

 

[Fred66]

Just out of interest… how many have heard of RSPCA Assured? I work in the poultry farming sector and our sites are accredited to this Standard.

Maybe RSPCA should have spent the money used on that dreadful advert to raise awareness of this Standard which is already in place for livestock instead of blurring the lines between companion animals, farmed animals and wild animals/insects.

Here’s a link to the webpage if anyone is interested https://www.rspcaassured.org.uk/about-us/our-governance/the-history-of-rspca-assured/

And when they removed the standard from farmers participating in the badger cull was the point that they devalued their standard .

 

[palo1]

Any welfare organisation are going to have to be incredibly measured, confident of their facts and able to communicate complex issues effectively in the next few years as the climate crisis brings some animal welfare and environmental needs - especially relating to agriculture, into an increasingly difficult space to share. For example, free range chicken farms are amongst some of the worst polluters: environmentally it makes more sense to have entirely 'closed' systems of poultry farming (or better, to vastly reduce the amount of poultry eaten). But a closed system would be be negative for animal welfare and difficult for the RSPCA, for example, to support, even in favour of supporting biodiversity and wildlife.

Do the RSPCA want to advocate more strongly for less meat consumption or will that be a space already occupied by other organisations? It would lose them their 'place' within UK agriculture I think, as the supermarkets and farm producers would not, probably, want to align with that either.

The RSPCA has never really managed to convey any level of complexity in its communications, let alone in many of its public activities and this ad is probably one of the most muddled and confusing they've produced!!

ETA: I wonder too, how the RSPCA square the circle with the RSPB, for example, trapping animals such as corvids and, famously, hedgehogs in their protection of some bird species or the ways people have found of dealing with nuisance urban foxes. I don't have an issue with that, necessarily but I suspect many people who will support this ad campaign will/would. The use of Packham is also bizarre; he is such a contentious figure that including him will instantly alienate many people!

 

[Goldenstar]

Just out of interest… how many have heard of RSPCA Assured? I work in the poultry farming sector and our sites are accredited to this Standard.

Maybe RSPCA should have spent the money used on that dreadful advert to raise awareness of this Standard which is already in place for livestock instead of blurring the lines between companion animals, farmed animals and wild animals/insects.

Here’s a link to the webpage if anyone is interested https://www.rspcaassured.org.uk/about-us/our-governance/the-history-of-rspca-assured/

Yes I have heard of it .
But I am interested in this sort of thing .
I spent a hour week grilling the customer care people at Marks and Spencer about how they harvest their coconuts.

 

[reynold]

The RSPCA may want to change/adjust it's focus from purely pet animals to farming/wildlife but I must admit that concerns me greatly.

There are any number of examples of poor handing of companion animals by RSPCA staff and yet there is plenty of opportunity for them to practice that handing due to the (sadly) plentiful supply of dogs/cats/rabbits/etc needing rescue/rehoming.

If they are poor when working with animals that are freely available to experience handling with then how can they be trusted to safely (for their staff) and correctly (for the animal) handle wildlife and farm animals?

The farm my OH works on used to RSPCA Assured for their beef cattle but I'm not sure if they still are now they mainly make hay/silage.



I used to take in poultry and sheep from an RSPCA centre in Fareham. The sheep all needed to have their feet tended to and the poultry - which were mainly cockerels which I had space for - along with Muscovy ducks and peacocks - were struggling to be rehomed and kept very confined. The staff even called me up to rehome a 'peacock' which when I got there I was delighted to find was actually a peaHEN!

 

[ycbm]

This advert has been reworked for cinemas. The animations are gone, the shots suggesting huge overcrowding in cattle housing which are really only shots of cattle mustered for routine treatment are gone, the meat chicken have more space, the killing of a fly in a house is gone, several other things are gone and imo that version is now an advert that works and gets the RSPCA core values and work across really well.
.

 

[misst]

That's interesting. They must have had some awful feedback. I always thought advertising agencies did surveys of what people think before release but it would appear they got their wires crossed here.

 

[flat3]

This advert has been reworked for cinemas. The animations are gone, the shots suggesting huge overcrowding in cattle housing which are really only shots of cattle mustered for routine treatment are gone, the meat chicken have more space, the killing of a fly in a house is gone, several other things are gone and imo that version is now an advert that works and gets the RSPCA core values and work across really well.
.

Can you post a link? It would be interesting to see the second version.

 

[ycbm]

Can you post a link? It would be interesting to see the second version.

I saw it in a cinema, I'm not keen to plough through all the online versions of RSPCA ads to find it, sorry!
.

 

[Crugeran Celt]

I hate the advert as it's a lie. I rung them a few years ago when i found a mare and foal on some common land. Mare was emaciated so rung RSPCA, they asked if mare was on her feet and if the foal was feeding so said yes but mare was in appalling condition. They refused to come out as mare was on her feet. I then contacted horse welfare who came out two days later and found the mare dead and a distressed foal. They also refused to take in a dog a friend of mine found in the middle of a country lane in a terrible state, told her to take it to the police.