PETA and Pablo London launch Hamface, a horror villain linking processed meat to cancer, in a film and street posters

Key Takeaways

• PETA has launched Hamface, the first campaign it has made with Pablo London, which casts processed meat as a horror villain to highlight its link to cancer.

• The film was directed by duo RIOT with production company ArtClass, and it is played straight as a horror film in place of a genre spoof.

• Posters on city walls carry the same villain from the film into out-of-home artwork.

• PETA's Dawn Carr urges people to "take the horror off our plates", linking the cancer risk of processed meat to the deaths of the pigs used to make it.

PETA has launched Hamface, a campaign that comes from Pablo London, which is giving processed meat the full horror treatment by turning it into a villain who gets invited into the family home. The campaign is being described as "The terrifying embodiment of processed meat", Hamface is the agency's first work for the animal rights organisation, and his introduction leaves little doubt about the genre, since he is also billed as "The hidden killer who you invite into your home, trust at your table and never suspect until it's too late." The agency started this campaign with an observation that 2026 has been a "golden year" for horror films, and it decided to enter the genre on its own terms by making a piece of work that would stand up within this genre.

PETA's Hamface film and posters turn processed meat into a horror villain in Pablo London's first PETA campaign

Pablo London didn't want to make a parody, so it set out to produce a creep show in its own right, leaning on slow-building dread and a familiar home turned sinister. The film was brought to life by directing duo RIOT along with production company ArtClass. The credits also list Nick Kellington in the title role, puppetry by Hugh Purves, and special effects support from Millennium FX. 

Outdoors, the campaign moved to posters on city walls, bringing the film's antagonist into out-of-home artwork and taking the character beyond the screen. The agency framed the project around the idea that a ham sandwich lacks the obvious menace of better-known threats such as asbestos and tobacco, so the film and the posters give that hidden threat a name and a face.

The organisation's position was set out by its VP of Vegan Corporate Projects, who connected human and animal harm in the same breath. "Hamface shows the horror behind something we've made far too ordinary," said Dawn Carr, before adding a second line that places the two concerns side by side, "Bacon, ham, and sausages come with a cancer risk for us, and certain death for the sensitive pigs they're made from." Dan Watts, chief creative officer at Pablo, was more personal, saying, "This project has made me quite relieved that I don't spend my days stuffing my face with ham." He then spoke as a genre fan, adding, "It has also reminded me why I love stuffing my eyeballs with horror films."