Go Vegan World is currently running a campaign that invites non-vegans to mentally swap places with animals being slaughtered.
Some of those ads are running in Birmingham, London and Port Glasgow. Our intention was to run the following ads depicting the terror and bloodshed of animals at the time of slaughter with the intention of helping non-vegan consumers connect the products they pay for with the animals they were.
The UK advertiser refused to run the ad unless we removed the blood from the photos to comply with advertising standards recommendations. Those recommendations advise that ads should not use images that may be offensive or distasteful or likely to cause distress or fear.
It would not make sense to viewers to run the ad of the slaughtered lamb without blood but we made the decision to proceed with the ad depicting the pig because it illustrates their sentient capacity to experience terror at the hands of humans. You can compare the original image (Source: Aitor Garmendia / Tras los Muros) with the edited image we were forced to use below:
If accurate depictions of the distress and fear caused TO the animals we use, also have the potential to cause distress and fear to us when confronted with the consequences of that use for the animals, surely the question is why we are supporting such a violent industry? Why must we protect the public by hiding the inner workings of farms and slaughterhouses from them? The fact that most people are not vegan, yet they can’t look at what they inflict on other animals by their non-vegan choices indicates that most people find their own animal use morally objectionable. Even if they did not experience fear or distress, their lives and bodies are not ours to use.
Those who ask us to water down our accurate depictions of animal use so that the image of terror on their faces is wiped out along with the blood their bodies shed when they are killed, are complicit in maintaining the status quo in which 8 billion humans slaughter 80 billion land animals and trillions of sea animals, every year. Every individual one of those 80 billion land animals and trillions of sea animals experienced terror at the time of their death; indeed, many of them experienced terror throughout their lives. Every individual one of them shed blood when their throats were cut. This is not news to people. They may not associate bloodshed with the egg, dairy and clothing industry if they are ignorant of the fact that animals are slaughtered for non-animal flesh products too, but everyone who consumes animal flesh is familiar with animal blood. If you find it objectionable, you know what to do.
