Finalist
Production & Post-Production
Stop-Frame Animation

Mercy for Animals exists to expose cruelty in industrial farming and to promote conscious, compassionate consumer behavior.

In 2024, amid growing interest in ethical sourcing and sustainable food systems, the egg industry leaned hard on the term “cage-free” as a perceived badge of animal welfare. But the reality behind the label often tells a different story: overcrowded barns, mutilation, trauma, and suffering.

In recent years, consumer demand for ethically sourced food has surged, placing pressure on farmers to respond with more humane-sounding practices.

Among the most prominent of these is the term “cage-free,” which has become a key marketing tool for egg producers. While the label implies significant welfare improvements, the reality often falls short.

Chickens may be removed from cages but remain subjected to overcrowding, physical mutilation, and psychologically distressing environments.

For Mercy for Animals, this presented a critical communications challenge: how to confront a misleading yet widely accepted term without alienating consumers or falling into the trap of overused tactics like graphic footage or data-heavy messaging.

The organization needed to reclaim the narrative before "cage-free" became permanently cemented in the public consciousness as an ethical standard.

At the same time, Mercy for Animals faced an advocacy landscape in which audiences were increasingly desensitized to traditional campaign formats.

The challenge was not just to raise awareness, but to break through apathy, provoke critical thought, and inspire meaningful reflection among those who might believe they were already making humane choices.

The campaign also had to work globally. Mercy for Animals operates across diverse markets, each with its own regulatory environment, cultural context, and consumer behaviors. Any message aimed at exposing the truth behind “cage-free” needed to resonate across borders without relying on specific language or local references.

“Cracked” was designed as a purpose-driven intervention, one that would challenge the status quo, elevate public understanding, and spark meaningful dialogue around a neglected health and ethics issue: the truth behind “cage-free” labeling.

Mercy for Animals launched the campaign globally through a digital-first strategy, prioritizing reach, accessibility, and emotional resonance. A dedicated landing page and coordinated social media rollout ensured broad visibility, timed to align with ongoing public discourse and policy debates around food labeling standards.

Rather than rely on traditional advocacy formats, the creative team embraced an unconventional approach that centered on empathy. “Cracked” contains no data points, narration, or spoken language at all. Instead, it unfolds through haunting animation and meticulously crafted sound design.

This decision removed linguistic barriers and allowed the film to communicate directly through feeling, ensuring its message could be understood regardless of geography or literacy.

The film’s aesthetics were chosen to disrupt expectations. Drawing from the language of horror, it confronts viewers with a symbolic depiction of suffering too often hidden behind sanitized marketing.

Animation techniques including stop-motion and layered glass effects add texture and tension. The use of Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For a Film)” as a narrative backbone reinforces the emotional journey.

By leading with feeling and refusing to soften its message, “Cracked” created space for self-reflection and public accountability. It offered not just information but a wake-up call—inviting communities to reconsider what they accept as ethical, and to take action toward more compassionate systems.

“Cracked” achieved what data and policy could not: it made people feel the cost of cruelty in industrial egg production.

Within days of its release, the film drove more than 100,000 organic views across platforms, with an average view-through rate of 87% — rare for a three-minute advocacy piece. Mercy for Animals saw a huge spike in web traffic and new donor sign-ups, and thousands of direct engagements asking how to verify cruelty-free sourcing.

The film sparked online petitions, inspired boycott pledges, and initiated dialogue with two major grocery chains about expanding animal welfare transparency. Multiple lawmakers shared the piece in relation to farm bill reform. Most critically, it reframed “cage-free” in public discourse — a shift still reverberating across consumer forums, sustainability media, and activist platforms.

For Mercy for Animals, “Cracked” was more than a film — it became a movement catalyst.