Partridge Family Mom, Shirley Jones, Joins PETA's Safeway Boycott

March 12, 2002

To: David Doorley, Out
From: Bruce Friedrich

Shirley to Grocery Giant: "C'mon, Get Humane"

Shirley Jones, "mom" to generations of Americans on The Partridge Family, has written a letter to Safeway CEO Steven Burd calling for the grocery giant to require its suppliers to stop copping out and to adopt basic animal welfare standards. In her letter supporting PETA's boycott of Safeway and its affiliates, Jones vows that she, and her family, will stop shopping at the food store until company officials "respond ethically."

"Safeway has the power to force the entire industry to improve its treatment of factory-farmed animals," writes Ms. Jones, after naming specific atrocities by Safeway's suppliers. "Won't you use that power to end this abuse and effect positive change?"

PETA attempted to negotiate with executives from Safeway for 16 months prior to its announcement of a boycott. Yet Safeway has refused to take steps to ensure that its suppliers do not dismember fully conscious animals or engage in other abuses. Fast-food giants McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, bowing to pressure from PETA, have adopted the new measures.

Jones, a former Miss Pittsburgh, received worldwide acclaim for her performance in the 1955 film version of the musical Oklahoma!—now an American classic and the inspiration for a recent sold-out Broadway revival—and won an Oscar in 1960 for her role in Elmer Gantry.

Click here to see Shirley Jones' letter to Safeway CEO Steven Burd.