McDonald's fast food chain was very close to wining the Business Ethics award for environmental excellence in 1999. Ironically, shortly before they received the award they became the example of animal mistreatment. This occurred when the Business Ethics group heard about a campaign being done by, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA is known for their negative publications on businesses for animal mistreatment in the United States.
             The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals campaign showed the slaughterhouse cruelty to animals. The co-founder of the Business Ethics group stated that this seemed unfair to McDonald's. Apparently animal cruelty is industry wide. However, others feel that McDonald's is the perfect company to stand up and lead the industry in changing this horrific truth. This is not directly McDonald's fault because they are not directly harming the animals. The suppliers are unintentionally being cruel to the animals. Now that McDonald's knows this they ethically have to make their suppliers provide humane living conditions for the animals. This is a prime example of agency theory, McDonald's is most of America's agent for lunch, dinner or the afternoon snack
             The letter from the judges for the annual Business Ethics Awards pointed out what they are being scrutinized for. One of the practices under fire is stunning procedures for cows on the slaughter line. "Federal standards require that 100 percent of cows be fully stunned before they are skinned, but PETA points to a McDonald's training video implying it's acceptable if five cows in every 100 are conscious while skinned and dismembered," the letter says. "In the case of chickens, USDA recommendations say they should have at least 2 square feet of space, yet McDonald's suppliers allow only .55 square feet – not enough space for a chicken to spread one wing...