300 buses are taking hard-hitting Go Vegan World – the world’s largest and longest running vegan campaign – onto the streets of Greater Manchester ahead of Vegan Education Day on 22nd April.
Through striking digital video and stills, a variety of the campaign’s striking adverts will target shoppers, commuters, tourists and city traffic across Manchester. There will be large format digital screens at Printworks and the Arndale, 42 posters at Manchester Piccadilly as well as posters, 200 bathroom ads, digital screens and billboards across the city, alongside 60 pavement impressions (jet washed onto the pavement).
On Vegan Street Education Day itself people can experience the immersive Virtual Reality as well as sampling vegan food. People can take shelter in the Go Vegan World gazebo on Market Street and experience what life is like for the animals we use as food. Go Vegan World volunteers will be on hand to provide information on how veganism is a fair and ethical way of living and to refer people to evidence based information on the impact of animal use on human health and the environment. Go Vegan World director, Sandra Higgins, will be on hand to discuss the campaign and its aims and to show people how easy, cheap, convenient and enjoyable it is to live vegan.
The campaign features powerful, highly thought-provoking messages such as Dairy Takes Babies from their Mothers, Humane Milk is a Myth: Don't Buy It , Their Right to Life: Your Right to Health and Vegetarianism is Not Enough for male chicks who are killed at birth by the egg industry, the award winning advertising campaign is designed to encourage people to question the notion that humans are better than other animals; to provide evidence based information that targets the myth that animal use is necessary for human wellbeing, and to encourage people to think seriously about the ethics of continuing to use animals as food, clothing, entertainment, and for research.
The campaign is being run by the Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary, Ireland – a number of whose animal residents feature in the adverts - and is part of an international campaign that is currently touring the UK, following a successful launch in Ireland in October 2015.
Campaign Director - and Founder of the Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary - Sandra Higgins said: “There is substantial research that demonstrates that other animals share the human capacity to be consciously aware and to suffer. Breeding them for our use and taking their lives is unjust. Even when the best of welfare standards are adhered to, they face rights violations and control by humans throughout their lives and death at a slaughterhouse at a very young age. It is impossible to regulate something that is inherently unjust. Not one of us would be willing to swap places with the animals we use” .
There is also a growing body of research that shows that a switch to a vegan lifestyle would also benefit the environment and human health and help alleviate world hunger.
Higgins notes that “Most Western World children have fatty streaks in their arteries by 10 years of age. This is the first sign of atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death in the Western World. She quotes Dr Michael Greger who says ‘the question for most of us is not whether we should eat healthy to prevent heart disease, but whether we want to reverse the heart disease we may already have.’ “A whole foods 100% plant diet prevents and reverses our No 1 Killer of humans and of other animals. Animal Rights is also a Human Rights issue.”
The campaign directs viewers to research the issues for themselves by downloading the campaign’s Free Vegan Guide at www.goveganworld.com.
“Most people are pleasantly surprised to find that it is easy and enjoyable to be vegan, especially when motivated by our deepest values of justice and fairness” said Higgins.
The Go Vegan World Free Vegan Guide can be downloaded from the website https://goveganworld.com/download-free-vegan-guide/
Lecture
Title of the event: Awakening Compassion: a tri-factor talk on veganism
Manchester University Students Union, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PR.
Monday 8th May
Time: 2:30-5:30pm
Other speakers: Professor Richard Twine on the Environment & Veganism
Laura Elizabeth Tomlinson on Health & Veganism
Sandra Higgins on Veganism and Ethics
Followed by Q&A
The evening will also offer an opportunity to view some videos, browse the information stalls and enjoy free vegan food and drink.
Go Vegan World will be offering free admission to a screening of What the Health at The Principal Hotel, Manchester on Sunday 23rd April at 3.30 pm. The room seats 60 people.