Animal rights campaigners win case against Swiss egg advert

Animal rights campaigners successfully denounce Swiss egg advert

Keystone-SDA

The Swiss Fair Trading Commission has criticised an advert by Suisse Garantie for eggs. The claim that the eggs mostly come from “small flocks” is misleading, it ruled. Several animal welfare organisations had previously lodged complaints.

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In fact, around 65% of laying hens in Switzerland are kept on farms with more than 4,000 birds; 80% of the birds are kept in flocks of more than 2,000. Animal welfare organisations have criticised this, arguing that it far exceeds the natural flock size of around 30 hens.

The fair trading commission has now agreed with them and upheld the complaint in its entirety. The commission recommends that Suisse Garantie refrain from using the disputed advertising claim in future, the animal welfare platform “Werbemist” said on Tuesday.

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False impression suggested

Suisse Garantie’s promotional video from February 2026 stated that Swiss eggs mostly came from family farms “with small flocks, animal-friendly housing and the best care”.

“This statement suggests a particularly animal-friendly and small-scale production method. Yet Swiss laying hens, too, predominantly live in factory farming conditions,” the animal welfare organisations wrote in response.

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The advert also glossed over the conditions in other respects. Most laying hens suffer from painful sternum fractures and are killed after only about a year when their egg-laying performance declines. Despite the commission’s decision, the advert remains online. The animal welfare organisations called on Suisse Garantie to remove the advert immediately.

The “Werbemist” platform is a project run by the Association Against Animal-Harmful Advertising and has been online since April 2026. It analyses advertising content that glosses over conditions in animal husbandry. The association is supported by the animal welfare organisations Animal Rights Switzerland, Sentience, the Foundation for Animals in Law and Tier im Fokus.