Farmers hit out over vegan ads on buses they say ‘demonise’ livestock industry
TRANSLINK has said it is “sympathetic” to the pressures faced by Northern Ireland farmers as it responded to criticism of advertisements on its buses promoting a vegan lifestyle.
The public transport operator added that it recognised the “important role” farmers have in the economy and in rural communities.
It comes after the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) said its members had raised concerns over vegan advertisements on buses.
The union said it was felt the ads “wrongly demonise the livestock industry to promote the vegan lifestyle” and members were outraged.
The UFU contacted Translink in an attempt to resolve the dispute but said they were unsatisfied by the response which “reflected an inability to remove them”.
Translink said advertising on its vehicles and property was handled by a third party “media specialist” and by carrying the vegan material it was not taking a stance on the issue.
“We are very sympathetic to the pressures facing our local farming community and recognise the important role they have in our economy and rural communities,” a spokeswoman said.
One of the adverts reads “It’s not a personal choice when someone is killed, use plants not animals”, while another says “Dairy takes babies from their mothers”.
UFU president Ivor Ferguson said the ads were also being printed on the side of school buses. He said this raised issues in rural areas, with many UFU members relying on Translink’s transportation services. Mr Ferguson described the feelings of the farming community towards the adverts, saying many were “outraged”.
“A public service should be impartial, but the vegan adverts on the buses use emotive language that singles out our farmers and has the potential to do serious damage to our agriculture industry and the livelihood of our farming families,” he said.
“Our produce is farmed to some of the highest environmental and animal welfare standards in the world so that consumers can enjoy quality food without worrying about what it contains or where it came from but Translink’s adverts dismiss the facts helping to perpetuate a negative narrative about eating meat and consuming dairy products.”
Mr Ferguson added: “To demonise the livestock industry to promote another industry is wrong.”
The UFU president said in the Republic, Bus Eireann had removed vegan adverts “after receiving a high volume of concerns”.
Go Vegan World, the organisation behind the adverts, has been contacted for a comment.