'Shameway' Campaign History

Between October 2000 and March 2001, PETA wrote multiple letters to Safeway regarding its animal welfare practices. During this time, Safeway ignored PETA's—and the public's—concern for animal welfare and would not speak with PETA's representatives on the phone.

• PETA's first letter to Safeway, asking it to follow McDonald's lead by adopting animal welfare standards
• Safeway's response to PETA claiming that it is not "entitled or qualified" to implement animal care standards
• PETA's second letter to Safeway, pointing out that during the slaughter process, cows supplied to Safeway could be skinned and dismembered while they were still conscious and that Safeway did not have any way to prevent this or other abuses from happening

In March 2001, three months after sending its last letter to Safeway, PETA finally got Safeway Vice President Brian Dowling on the phone. Dowling promised to "look into the issue" by contacting McDonald's [McCruelty.com] in order to get a copy of its animal welfare standards. When PETA followed up two months later, Dowling stated that Safeway still had not taken any action regarding animal welfare, and he again promised to "look into the issue." Between May 2001 and February 2002, Safeway attempted to use smoke and mirrors to claim that it was moving forward on animal welfare.

• Safeway's letter to PETA claiming that the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) was developing animal welfare guidelines on behalf of all major grocery-store chains (when PETA tried to clarify Safeway's position, Dowling stated that "Safeway cannot dodge the issue of animal welfare" and that Safeway wanted to "raise the bar" on the issue of humane treatment of animals)
• PETA's letter to Safeway explaining that the decision to treat animals with basic decency is up to Safeway, not to the FMI—PETA's letter also urged Safeway to stop buying pigs from Seaboard Farms after an undercover investigation revealed horrific abuse and suffering there—Safeway did not respond to this letter and refused to return multiple phone calls about it
• PETA's letter to Safeway reiterating the points in the previous letter
• Safeway's letter to PETA again ignoring PETA's concerns
• PETA's letter to Safeway offering assistance in developing animal welfare guidelines and asking that Safeway make a real commitment to animal welfare—Safeway ignored this letter
• PETA's letters to all of Safeway's subsidiary companies warning of an impending campaign against them

On February 5, 2002, after nearly 16 months of failed attempts to move Safeway toward improving animal welfare, PETA—with the help of activists across North America—launched its international "Shameway" campaign urging consumers to boycott Safeway until the company improved the lives and deaths of the animals it sells:

• PETA's letter to Safeway's CEO notifying him of the boycott and PETA's subsequent news release
• PETA's letter to Safeway replying to the company's media statement regarding the campaign
• Another PETA response regarding Safeway's statements to the media
• PETA's letter to Safeway Canada regarding its media statements
• PETA's letter to Safeway again spelling out its demands, which followed a phone call from Dowling

During this time, more than 100 demonstrations occurred in all 20 states and four provinces where Safeway operates. The campaign also received support from actors Shirley Jones, Alec Baldwin, and James Cromwell.

On May 15, 2002, PETA called off its "Shameway" campaign when Safeway agreed to make meaningful animal welfare improvements. Following six more years of ongoing negotiations with PETA, Safeway made further substantial movement on animal welfare when it agreed to do the following:

• Increase its purchases of flesh from chickens and turkeys killed by controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK)—the least cruel method of bird slaughter—and give purchasing preference to suppliers that use or switch to CAK.
• Increase the amount of pig flesh it purchases from suppliers that don’t use gestation crates—tiny metal enclosures so small that mother pigs can't even turn around—by 5 percent of total pig flesh sales over each of the next three years. Safeway will also give purchasing preference to suppliers that don't use gestation crates.
• Double the amount of cage-free eggs it sells to more than 6 percent of total eggs sales by 2010, and give purchasing preference to suppliers of cage-free eggs.

While "cage-free" and "crate-free" certainly don't mean "cruelty-free", these changes will result in a dramatic reduction in suffering for hundreds of thousands of animals.