Go Vegan World launches massive Christmas & New Year Campaign in Ireland & the UK

Go Vegan World has a significant public presence in Ireland and the UK from mid-December to mid-January. The campaign will appear on social media as well as on buses, video screens at bus and train stations, billboards and on the London underground.


 

Inequality, Environmental Collapse and Speciesism

We launch this campaign at a time when inequality, environmental collapse and speciesism combine to ensure a hopeless future unless we change how we think, feel and live. It is these interrelated themes that we attempt to address in our Christmas and New Year campaign.

The UK campaign launches just as a Tory government has been re-elected. There is every likelihood that people in the UK will be let down by an elitist party that prioritises wealth for the already rich and immediate gratification over justice and equality for everyone. It is extremely unlikely that issues that matter such as social justice, environmental protection, effective climate action, vegan education and animal rights, will receive the attention they require. Therefore, there is all the more need for us to take individual action.

There is a continual and devastating barrage of news on our television and computer screens telling us about the threat to life on earth because of how we live. The environmental crisis, of which the climate crisis is just one aspect, is not just a simple consequence of how we behave. Like all behaviours, it emanates from how we think, specifically how we think about ourselves in relation to the rest of life. The human supremacist view that we are the only form of life that matters has resulted in a breakdown in the delicately balanced biosphere that supports our very existence and that of all lifeforms.

When we experience the effects of climate change in our own countries, as those in other countries already do, even though they contributed least to its cause and have the least resources to cope with it, we will call on our Government and our authorities to ‘fix it’. We will experience loss of power as a result of storms; flooding and drought; our water will be too polluted to drink; and we will find it difficult to grow food. If our Governments do not make changes now and if we, as individuals, do not change how we live, it will be beyond everyone’s power to ‘fix it’. Our campaign contains a series of ads on the connection between diet and climate change, as well as ads that address the myth that animal use is necessary, and, as always, our main focus is on ads designed to help non vegans to make the connection between what they regard as food, and the personhood of the animals they are eating.

 

Go Vegan World Dairy Ads on Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann Ads

After more than four years of refusing to run ads that expose the dairy industry, this Christmas sees the launch of more than one hundred bus ads in Ireland carrying our Dairy Takes Babies ads. These ads are also on buses in Northern Ireland and London, as well as billboards in Ireland and on the London Underground.

 

Someone, Not Something: the Turkeys of Eden

Two of the ads in this year’s campaign feature turkeys who lived at Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary, Megan and Saoirse, who passed away in 2019. These ads that state Turkeys Want to be Hugged, Not Killed and They Trust Us, We Butcher Them, are poignant reminders of the innocence and defenceless of the animals whose lives we take when we hand over our money for animal foods.

Season of Goodwill?

Some of the ads question why Christmas is a season of goodwill for some but not for others. As many of us rush headlong into a spree of hedonistic luxury, milking the very life out of animals, other humans and the resources of the planet that we need for our survival, the contrast between how we live and the consequences of our lifestyles on others, couldn’t be more stark.

Many of us are fortunate enough to take a break from work, spend time with those we love, and buy ourselves some luxuries. But we do so at an unnecessary and unacceptable cost to others. Pigs, turkeys and other birds are slaughtered on an enormous scale to meet the demand for Christmas luxury. Hens and cows are used and killed for the eggs and dairy products that are included in our holiday menu. Fishes and other animals, including those bred for clothing, entertainment and companionship do not escape: despite the growing numbers of people who are vegan and those who are eating a vegan diet, the vast majority of people use other animals for food, clothing, entertainment etc.

Veganism = Permanent Change in how we Think, Feel & Live

As we witness scenes of children visiting live cribs, we are reminded of the magical awe that all of us used to have when we met other animals before our young minds were encultured to think that they don’t matter. Let us never forget that the animals in these scenes were bred to be killed so that we could eat their dead bodies and wear their skin and wool.

We carefully file away in our minds the uncomfortable reality that how we live is destructive and causes others to experience injustice and violence. There is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas and the New Year. There is everything right about connecting with family and friends. But our celebration shouldn’t carry the high price that it does to the animals who are bred to be used and killed for us; to the people who are overworked and exploited to cope with our demand for consumerism; and to the environment that all of us depend on for life.  It is time that we stopped thinking that how we live is excusable if we make a once off donation to charity or go on a plant diet for a month. Those who are harmed by how we live, whether they are other animals or other humans, do not need charity: they need equality and respect for their rights. Those who are exploited need more than temporary measures: they need the rest of us to make lasting changes in how we think, feel and live. This is what Go Vegan World is asking for on behalf of other animals: that people research animal rights and veganism and make permanent change in our individual and collective psyche.

For more information please download our free vegan guide.