RSPCA’s all-singing rebrand suggests killing snails and farming are cruel

The RSPCA has come under fire over an advert that suggests killing snails is cruelty to animals and criticises dairy farming.

The video, released by the animal welfare charity on Thursday alongside a rebrand, features a number of animals singing Respect, by Aretha Franklin, alongside images including spiders being swatted, intensively reared chickens and dairy cows, and a bee being caught in a lawnmower.

The second half of the two-minute video shows “respectful” treatment of animals, including moving a snail from a pavement and on to a plant, and free range chickens.

Gareth Wyn Jones, a Welsh hill farmer who has been involved in recent farming protests, said the video was “a kick in the teeth”, and had left “a lot of angry farmers”.

He added that contrasting farming with helping snails was “a joke” and showed that the organisation was “just one step – or ten – away from reality”.

“Respecting animals is what 99 per cent of farmers do,” he said. “There’s a few rotten apples but those are the ones that the RSPCA keeps showing.”

Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance said: “However hard it tries the RSPCA just can’t help getting it wrong.

“People expect it to focus on the welfare of domestic animals, not to promote ‘respect’ for spiders and snails.

“We all love bees, but when there are so many cases of real animal cruelty lecturing people on lawn mowing really isn’t the issue.”

Responding to criticism on social media, the RSPCA defended its portrayal of dairy cows, saying they “face a number of welfare challenges, from painful lameness, to uncomfortable bedding, and having no access to pasture.

“We want to encourage people to understand more about where their food comes from and how the animals are reared,” it said.

The charity’s rebrand also includes ditching its classic lozenge-shaped logo and dark blue colour which the charity has used since 1970 instead introducing a cube design featuring animals and brighter colours.

The RSPCA has frequently been found to be one of the most complained about charities in the regulator’s annual reports.

In recent years the charity has faced criticism over its opposition to badger culling and pursuit of fox hunters.

It has also been criticised for calling for pigs to be killed in slaughterhouses as a more “humane” alternative to being shot on farm during a labour shortage.

Chris Sherwood, the chief executive, said the rebrand could help boost its popularity, adding that the old design had “been holding us back from becoming the modern, forward-facing RSPCA we want to be”.

He told Third Sector, the charity industry publication, that while the RSPCA is at 93 per cent awareness among the public “the strength in the brand weakens when it comes to how much they like us and drops even more when considering donating”.

The charity has a history of bringing private prosecutions against individuals, but in 2021 said it would reduce this aspect of its work following criticism over several high profile cases, particularly against fox hunts.

The charity said the rebrand cost less than 1 per cent of their annual animal welfare operations, but declined to reveal the full cost.

A new strapline to accompany the rebrand, “for every kind”, is indicative that the charity wants to be “for every kind of animal, but also for every kind of person, because we want everyone to feel welcome at the RSPCA”, said Mr Sherwood.

Regional wildlife variations include a seal icon for Cornwall branches of the charity’s shops and a canary in Norwich.