Chicken Shining

Our Corporate Bureau
27 February 2004

Mumbai: The Poultry Industry of Maharashtra has flagged off a chicken education campaign, "chicken shining", to inform the consumer about the health benefits of eating chicken, and also to reinstate their confidence in Indian chicken, as the safest in the world.

The "chicken shining" campaign, with its yellow coloured mascot, hit the roads at the Crawford Market in Mumbai, egged on by film actress Perizaad Zorabian and celebrity columnist Rashmi Uday Singh, who were invited to add some gloss and shine to the event. Unexpectedly, the campaign ran afoul of another chicken - this one being white in colour and not so keen, it appeared, to be consumed by the already scared Indian consumer.

The white chicken forces, marshalled by PETA (People for Ethical Treatment to Animals) were protesting the cruel treatment that Indian chicken received at commercial farms. The white chicken, along with its forces, found itself being pushed around, presumably, for having arrived uninvited to a rival's chicken party!

The campaign is a large scale exercise undertaken to communicate the "feel good factor of eating chicken", according to the Poultry Industry of Maharashtra. It intends to do this by communicating to the consumers that chicken is not only a tasty but also healthy food.

Speaking on the occasion, on behalf of the Poultry industry, B S Yadav, general manager, Godrej Agrovet Ltd said that, "Inspite of such great performance by the industry in keeping the bird flu out of the country; the fear created by media reports has hit the retail consumption. This campaign will try to re-instate the confidence of the consumer in the chicken."

The campaign will be executed through a roadshow targeting all areas in Mumbai with high consumption of chicken. The roadmap includes residential areas and local markets across all prominent areas, namely Andheri, Churchgate, Borivli, Worli, Chembur, Bandra and Juhu and will be in motion from the February 24 to March 1, 2004.