Prominent influencers and local activists hand-delivered an open letter to H Mart store management in New Malden and executed a synchronised visual stunt last Monday (3 August).

The stunt was part of a wider campaign against South Korean conglomerate CJ Group's continued use of eggs sourced from caged hens for its Korean dumplings.

Attendees opened black umbrellas simultaneously, releasing a shower of blood-red biodegradable confetti. Once opened, the umbrellas were turned forward to spell "END CAGES" in bold lettering.

According to Open Wing Alliance (OWA), which has organised the campaign, CJ Group, a massive South Korean conglomerate, continues to source eggs from battery cages on factory farms for its subsidiaries, including bibigo.

OWA said: "On these farms, hens are confined to filthy wire cages alongside faeces, blood, and decaying birds."

The influencers who joined the stunt include Wednesday Holmes, Nicole Whittle, Adeline Ving, Lucie Johnson, Luisa-Christie Walton-Stoev, Pop, and Charlotte Fox.

In an exclusive interview with Nub News, Loretta Piare, Europe Lead, Open Wing Alliance in the UK, explained that the protest targeted the products that bibigo sells.

She added: "CJ Group is a South Korean-based company that is currently keeping millions of hens locked in cages.

"We know they use about 600 million eggs annually worldwide, which is about two million hens that are currently all trapped in tiny cages.

"So, that's why we were targeting the bibigo brand, and H Mart is the flagship South Korean supermarket chain here in the United Kingdom.

"Additionally, we know the one [H Mart] here in New Malden is one of their most well-known, so we knew we wanted to kind of get the message out there to as many people and as many customers who are buying the bibigo products without being aware of the cruelty behind the brand.

"We also know that brands can be able to transition away from using eggs from caged hens."

Piare continued: "We've seen brands like Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins, and even one of the biggest Japanese brands, QT, have made commitments and have gone 100% cage-free.

"And so we know that despite being one of the most powerful companies in South Korea, CJ Group has actually refused to embrace this kind of model for improving the quality and animal welfare behind their products."

She explained that she has also seen that there is "a big amount of momentum for cage-free systems across the entire continent in Asia at the moment".

Piare added: "Many governments, corporations, and consumers are increasingly wanting to see greater food safety, greater supply chain transparency, and of course greater ethical sourcing, which is better for the animals.

"And we're really excited because next year South Korea is putting in place a ban on barren battery cages, which is obviously showing that they want to shift into more humane practices for the animals, for the hens.

"But this does come with associated risks, that rather than going from barren battery cages to a cage-free system, they would implement an enriched cage system, which is something that did happen actually here in Europe, where there was a European-wide ban on battery cages, but you are still allowed to use enriched cages in many countries.

"And we want to circumvent that. We want CJ Group to commit to going 100% cage-free, and now is the time.

"And we know that they are really well positioned to strengthen that consumer trust, and ultimately lead to a ripple effect across Asia, and be able to influence greater welfare for the hens."

The influencers involved in the stunt are all passionate about human rights.

Speaking about the influencers, Piare said: "Even if they are vegan influencers and ethical, eco-living influencers, they were speaking to members of the public, and we were speaking to them as well.

"And at the end of the day, I think we as people, nobody wants suffering, and that includes animals.

"And there's a big misunderstanding about how much suffering is behind a lot of our food products - companies are very good at covering that up and closing our eyes to that and not bringing awareness.

"But we, as consumers, don't know what is behind our products. And these influencers really wanted to bring awareness to this.

"They also want to call on their followers and the general public to bring support for this campaign and show CJ Group and bibigo that this kind of animal abuse isn't acceptable."

Piare's team at OWA has done extensive research into CJ Group to find this information. It has also contacted the conglomerate several times about its use of caged hens, but it has not responded.

"That is why we've resorted to having to protest against their brand," Piare said.

Those involved in OWA's stunt opened black umbrellas simultaneously that were full of blood-red, biodegradable flower petal confetti.

"And this symbolised the idea that the blood was kind of like raining down, and it symbolises the suffering of the millions of egg-laying hens right now," Piare explained.

She added: "Like every day, CJ Group has the blood of these hens on their hands. And then once the umbrellas were opened, we had them coming forward, and they spelled out, 'end cages', as a symbol imploring CJ Group, asking them to end the suffering of these poor animals."

Piare told Nub News that the protest aimed to secure " a time-dependent, global commitment to source 100% cage-free eggs from CJ Group".

She added: "So for all of their products, for all of their sub-brands, they would source both the whole eggs, the liquid eggs, the ingredients, all from hens that are not kept in cages, but are kept in more humane conditions.

"And we know that this is possible. We've offered them ways to be able to work with them to help transition the current system towards cage-free.

"So this is not an unreasonable ask. We'd also want them to lay out a timeline for getting this done with clear, manageable dates to see key milestones in transitioning.

"I want to emphasise that we're not being unreasonable. We don't want this overnight - we know that's not feasible - but we just want them to lay out a timeline and commit to going 100% cage-free globally."

Piare said she thinks that the protest "was very successful".

She added: "So we hand-delivered a letter to the H Mart, and we also had many of its staff come out and they were very intrigued by what we were doing - they were asking us questions.

"And all of them weren't aware of the fact that bibigo is continuing to use caged eggs in their products.

"But also, once they heard what we were doing, they were all very interested in hearing more about our work, and hearing about ending animal cruelty."

Piare explained that they also spoke to members of the public who stopped to look at the visuals, which she said looked "very striking" from her perspective.

The protestors also handed out leaflets containing a QR code with what OWA calls 'a call to action', which links to one of its petitions.

OWA is a global nonprofit, and its Humane League, which Piare works for, exists to end the abuse of animals that are raised for food.

Piare said: "The way we do this work is by holding the largest food corporations accountable to implementing higher welfare practices, which starts with going completely cage-free for egg-laying hens, which are one of the most exploited land animals on the planet.

"We ourselves, the Humane League, realised that the mission, globally, was too big for any one organisation to handle.

"So we were a founding member of what is known as the Open Wing Alliance, which is a coalition of more than 80 animal protection organisations across the globe in over 72 countries, including in South Korea, of course.

"And we are all united in our work to end the abuse of chickens worldwide. And essentially what we do is we always seek peaceful negotiations with companies to commit to going cage-free globally, or if they're only working in one country, on a local scale as well.

"But if we see resistance to that, we will attempt to apply pressure by staging peaceful protests and essentially bringing awareness and encouraging them to be transparent with their consumers."

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