Local pair wins chicken prize

And third prize is ... $300 worth of products from Pantone Inc., the color-systems specialist in such fields as digital technology, textiles, and plastic.

Taking home the Pantone gift basket are Eric Shi and Mike Rodrigues of Boston ad agency Hill Holliday; the pair won third place for their entry in a marketing competition that aims to bring awareness to the suffering of chickens raised for food.

The competition's sponsor is the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.

According to PETA, the Shi-and-Rodrigues ad shows a chick attempting to impersonate a dog by barking.

The ad's tagline? "Given the inhumane conditions in factory farms, the last thing a chick wants to be is a chicken."

"It takes a plucky concept to champion chickens as friends not food," PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)