SPAM, makers of everyone’s favorite abomination in a can, are just so darn proud of their product that they are touring the country (except the pacific northwest apparently, sorry guys) to “thank everyone who makes SPAM® Brand what it is today.” You mean a disgusting food-like product born from cruelty? THANKS!
Well Compassion Over Killing is not having it. As Hormel continues on its SPAMERICAN tour, COK has launched its own “Unauthorized SPAM Tour” video. A parody of the SPAMERICAN tour, COK shows what REALLY happens at an exclusive Hormel supplier [warning: graphic! You can read a description after the vid if you don’t wanna watch]:
Viewers are taken on the tour by Earl, an animated guide who visits Quality Pork Processors (QPP), a pig slaughterhouse located on Hormel Century Parkway in Austin, Minn. A surprised Earl strays from his pro-industry script, muttering under his breath, as he goes through the slaughterhouse, seeing for the first time the reality of life – and death – for these animals.
Earl encounters pigs who are unable to walk being kicked, shocked, and dragged, workers beating pigs to move them out of holding pens, a supervisor sleeping on the job, and pigs improperly stunned who may end up in the scalding tank while still alive. At the end of the tour, a queasy Earl remarks, “No wonder so many people are going vegetarian.”
The eye-opening footage is from COK’s recent undercover investigation inside QPP, one of five US pig slaughterhouses operating under HIMP, a controversial high-speed, reduced inspection USDA pilot program. The Washington Post broke the story, and our investigation footage quickly went viral, sparking international headlines.
“Consumers want to know the truth about where their food is coming from. So as Hormel travels the US to showcase its SPAM product, our ‘Unauthorized SPAM Tour’ is taking Americans behind the closed doors of a Hormel slaughterhouse,” says Erica Meier, Executive Director of Compassion Over Killing.
You can get involved in the convo by tagging #NotSoFastHormel. Visit the site and share this vid far and wide, because as much of a punchline as SPAM is, the cruelty that goes into it is not funny at all.