New PERDUE® brand TV commercial campaign highlights innovative steps Perdue and farmers take to raise healthy chickens without antibiotics

The PERDUE® brand has launched new television commercials focusing on the role played by herbs in raising healthy chickens without relying on antibiotics. The commercials, airing nationally, star Perdue Chairman Jim Perdue, a Perdue flock specialist and a Perdue nutritionist, along with a sprig of thyme, a bunch of oregano and a few hundred chickens. The “It’s not the easy way, it’s the Perdue Way” campaign, which will also reach consumers online, highlights some of the extra, and sometimes surprising, efforts Perdue and farmers take to raise healthy chickens with no antibiotics ever.

“If this were easy, all of our competitors would already be doing it,” said Eric Christianson, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Innovation.

The campaign, created by The VIA Agency, uses a chicken house as a setting for the commercials. “We were able to use the playful banter between Jim Perdue and real employees to get across to consumers a few of the many extra steps Perdue takes to raise chickens without any antibiotics,” said Dan Balin, group strategy director for the Portland, ME, based agency. In one set of commercials, Jim and one of the company’s flock specialists talk about the antioxidant qualities of oregano. In the other, Jim and a poultry nutritionist delve into thyme’s potential to help support the chicken’s immune system.

“Thyme and oregano are just two of the innovative things we’ve done so that we don’t have to rely on antibiotics,” said Bruce Stewart-Brown, DVM, Perdue’s Senior Vice President of Food Safety, Quality and Live Production. “We also use things like probiotics. When you take antibiotics out, you do have to put extra work in. We’ve made changes at every stage, and so have the farmers who raise our chickens. It’s takes a commitment by everyone involved, beginning with chicks that grow up to provide eggs to our hatcheries.”

The campaign follows previous consumer outreach that supported Perdue’s call for clarity in claims and labels related to antibiotic use. “Some of our competitors have responded by saying they’re not using certain antibiotics, or using them for one use but not another,” said Christianson. “Consumers shouldn’t have to be experts in antibiotics to know what they’re buying. Our PERDUE® No Antibiotics Ever products give them the transparency and assurance that they’re feeding their families poultry that never received any kind of antibiotic.”

“Consumer questions about antibiotic use is not something new, and neither is our commitment to No Antibiotics Ever production,” said Jim Perdue. “We’ve been listening, and changing the way we raise animals. If it’s important to consumers; it’s important to us.”