Toronto's Be Veg ad campaign compares eating meat to eating pets
So you’re tired and hungry and in a rush to get to your next destination. You hop aboard the next train and you’re confronted by a picture of a cute kitten or puppy next to a cute chick or piglet. And you’re asked why would you love one but eat the other? How would you feel? What would you automatically think?
Toronto subway riders have been faced with this ad campaign launched by a Canadian grassroots group (started by TV host Kimberly Carroll and University of Toronto finance professor Lisa Kramer) concerned about how animals are treated.
The campaign originally began in 2009 with a limited run but expanded this fall to 1,000 ads with support from the Toronto Vegetarian Association, fundraising efforts, and donations.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of how food choices are related to how animals are mistreated on factory farms. Rather than using shock tactics with gory images or nudity, this campaign appeals to peoples’ sense of compassion and affection for animals.
A video was recently released about the campaign, which explains that animals on some factory farms are deprived of families, sun, nests, or even the ability to turn around. They also point out that some practises on farms would be considered illegal if done to a cat or dog.
Some images in this video may be disturbing to some viewers.
The Be Veg website offers advice about how to become vegetarian (including a vegetarian starter kit), more facts and videos about factory farming in Canada, health and environmental reasons to become vegetarian, and other information.
Will such a campaign ever appear in Vancouver?
You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig.
Comments
7 Comments
Vegans are lightweight weaklings
Dec 12, 2011 at 5:35pm
I like my Dog & his my Pet so unlike some Asians, Koreans & Chinese in particular I do not eat Dog or my pet Rat.
I am partial to Steak, Baby Lambs, Goats, little Chickens, Caribou, Walrus, Seal, some species of Whales that are endangered.
I'm 6.5 295lb & I can live out on the Northern Tundra in Winter where 100lb would freeze to death and get stomped on by the wildlife in less than an hour.
Did I mention I'm Inuit & my father Scottish?
Anton
Dec 12, 2011 at 8:51pm
I'm not trying to be a smart ass at all and if someone could answer this for me I'd appreciate it. Do vegans feed their pets food that contains meat?
veg
Dec 12, 2011 at 11:14pm
There are soy based, meat free, pet foods available. My parents aren't vegetarian, but they had to feed their dog soy dog food because he was allergic to most regular meat based brands. Soy based dog food is healthy and veterinarian recommended.
Tyler99
Dec 13, 2011 at 8:40am
There are also many dog foods that do not include soy for dogs. I know quite a few people who make their own dog food. There's a tendency to believe dogs are carnivores which is not the case. They are scavengers and able to survive healthily on a veg based diet, much like humans.
duh...
Dec 13, 2011 at 9:58am
...because one tastes good and the other does not.
LeighE
Dec 13, 2011 at 9:58am
Cats, however, are obligate carnivores, meaning they must eat meat to get the proper nutrition. Even most commercial available cat "foods" have too much corn/rice/other vegetable meal for cats to really thrive. I have friends who have put their pets (cats and dogs) on raw food diets and they're noticeably healthier.
Dogs and humans, being omnivores (arguably to different degrees) can survive on primarily vegetable based diets, but tend to do better with a small amount of animal derived foods, as some vitamins and minerals (iron, for example) are more bio-available from these sources. Some people (and presumably dogs) can get these nutrients from supplements, but some people don't respond well or absorb nutrients from supplements. Diet needs to be based on individual needs.
That said, factory farming practices are horrific and need to be changed, not only for humane reasons but for environmental ones. If there was a push towards reducing meat consumption, I think it would be more successful than asking (or demanding, as some groups do) everyone to be vegetarian. I do think this campaign is better than most PETA campaigns that try to shock people out of eating meat. Shock tactics tend to make people shut down to the issues, instead of creating avenues for intelligent discussion.
Omnivore
Dec 14, 2011 at 7:02am
Why not eat both then, just to be fair? The problem is those who mistreat animals during the meat production process. Eating meat is not the issue because we are humans and humans are made with teeth that determines that we eat both meat and veges.
If you want to stop meat consumption because eating meat is "cruel", are you going to kill off all the carnivores out there? Eating meat is not cruel, but over-eating and mistreating those animals used for consumption is cruel. There is a difference.
Stop telling people to be vegetarian. Just as how no one likes being told to convert to a certain religion, I don't see why anyone would like being told to change their beliefs about their diet, provided that there's nothing wrong with their diet in the first place. But what is wrong with eating meat?