In the news

Future Normal

At the end of 2020 we ran our first ever TV advertising campaign, which went out on All 4 and Sky on Demand. The campaign garnered coverage in Plant Based News, which published an article titled ‘Pro-Vegan TV Ad Targeting Animal Lovers Exceeds 1 Million Views’.

Campaigns Manager Mark Banahan spoke on BBC Radio Leeds, alongside Chef Day Radley, about the campaign. He shared the news that The Vegan Society gifted animal sanctuary adoptions to celebrities and those in the public eye, in a bid to encourage them to make the connection between the animals they love and care for and the animals they unthinkingly exploit in their everyday lives.

New plant-based McDonald’s line

The news that McDonald’s plans on launching a new plantbased line resulted in members of the press contacting us for comment. Senior Communications and Campaigns Officer Elena Orde shared the statement that The Vegan Society always welcomes the development of products that will encourage meat-eaters to try a plant-based alternative and to see how delicious they can be. She added that we would like to see every precaution taken to ensure that the risk of cross-contamination is minimised. Elena was invited onto Talk Radio and BBC Radio Berkshire to discuss the story.

Expert nutrition comment

A new Epic-Oxford report which raised potential concerns about the bone health of vegans resulted in Dietitian Heather Russell giving comments to the press. Heather stated that further research is warranted, but that vegans can follow recommended guidelines about protecting their bone health, including featuring calcium-rich foods such as calcium-set tofu and fortified milk and yoghurt alternatives in their diet. Several sources, including Farmers Weekly, cited Heather in their articles, resulting in more balanced pieces.

Heather also fed into a feature on vegan parenting in Closer Vegan magazine and gave nutrition tips for those taking part in Veganuary on the Vegan Food and Living Podcast.

Best of the rest

Vegan Society staff regularly contribute articles to the Ecologist’s online magazine. In December, Insight and Commercial Policy Officer Louisianna Waring wrote a piece on the new Greenpeace campaign, which uses a bold animation to expose the truth about industrial animal farming and rainforest annihilation. You can find our regular Ecologist pieces at theecologist.org.

We appeared on multiple TV news and comment segments about the EU’s decision to reject the proposal to ban terms such as ‘sausage’ and ‘burger’ on vegan products. Campaigns and Policy Officer Tim Thorpe appeared on the Jeremy Vine show in a piece entitled ‘When is a sausage not a sausage?’