Has anyone else rethought meat and dairy after seeing Slingshot adverts?

[Wyatt148]

Has anyone seen the slingshot_uk ads in the London Underground?

I’m a 43(f), about two months ago I googled vegetarian meal planning/recipes as I was trying to both cut my weekly shopping bill and be a bit healthier. I was always semi-conscious of animal welfare but always kind of put it to the side of my mind.

Well, the algorithm kicked in and wow.. I was genuinely shocked at the info that poured into my feed…what I learned about ‘big agri’ and mass factory farming. I couldn’t believe what I was reading/seeing/hearing so dug a bit deeper thinking I was just being fed the extreme versions….but no. The supply chains for the big supermarkets: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl etc. I then started looking into the practices of more local dairy farms, slaughterhouses, thinking I’ll just pay a bit more to a local butcher, a way to find a way of buying these things and being ok with myself, but…same practices. The bottom line wins out.

The Slingshot campaign is focused on marketing tactics and exposing factory farming at a large scale, but the data I kept (keep) getting is about all dairy farming and slaughterhouses and my world view has shifted entirely. I’m genuinely shook. The suffering of these animals, bred for this, is undeniable.

I can’t believe I’m this age and didn’t realise or understand the exploitation and what these animals go through (for those of you who are aware I’m sure this sounds completely idiotic). I really wish I’d known this sooner but I guess a combination of slick marketing and my own denial/wilful ignorance won out.

I feel stunned and ultimately really guilty. I’ve been vegan for a month now (cheaper shopping bill and feel great for it both physically and mentally). I’ve heard lots of arguments about health (although the scientific research wins out there but understand it may not be feasible for some), and it’s been an adjustment as I live with a partner and three large dogs who still eat meat/dairy. But I just wanted to share as I really wish I’d known to look into this in detail before now, maybe there are some of you who will appreciate this also.

I promise this isn’t an underhanded, goady post and I fully expect to get folk arguing for meat/dairy for health reasons, but wanted to highlight this as I wish I knew the realities of what goes on behind those dairy and slaughterhouse walls before now, so maybe some of you will too.

I know some vegan activists are aggressive and off putting but ultimately I understand they’re trying to highlight the injustice of it all. When I watch the footage (I’ll not share links as very graphic but easy to find and I can share if anyone wants) it’s clear as day. I’d urge everyone interested to take a look, I wish I’d known sooner.

The issue I have is companies who mislead/don’t make it clear what free range means. I’ve talked to thousands of people whilst campaigning and most people think that free range eggs means chickens are outside with lots of space most of the time. Unfortunately that is rarely the case. When you look at the actual law about what a chicken needs for their eggs to be able to be labelled as free range, it’s very poor and not what most people imagine.

Egg and dairy farming are debatably worse than when animals are farmed for meat.

That’s interesting. Was that ‘the norm’ for other families you knew in Scotland then, or were your family more progressive do you think, or maybe it was purely down to cost? I suppose my view is a bit skewed as my family were farmers, our friends were farmers, so meat was something to be consumed every day. My in-laws were not farmers though and they only started eating less meat about 10 years ago and say a lot of their friends eat less meat now too.

My own friends are mainly vegan and vegetarian, but their families who aren’t and ate meat most days, are now only eating it a couple of times a week. My kids have friends whose families only eat meat at weekends but eat vegetarian foods in the week due to costs and health. It’s all change in the right direction imo. Most people don’t do well with the all or nothing approach or making changes too fast.

I don’t know a single vegan farmer and I know a lot of farmers. I’m one myself and know how most animals are treated.

Some sheep are bred to shed their wool

That shows you know nothing about cattle husbandry. When the tendons and ligaments are damaged by injury, it’s easy for a cow to do the splits and further damage her body. The shackles are there only as long as needed to allow her to heal the injury so she doesn’t make herself worse. What other purpose do you think they serve? Do your regularly hear of large dairy cows going on the rampage and threatening human life?

Be opposed to eating animal products on ethical grounds if you want to - that’s everyone’s free choice. But don’t be making things up which aren’t based in fact, because that makes all your other arguments for your case look less convincing.

I know, but we were talking about sheep that aren’t.

I’m the daughter of a farmer and I’m vegan. We know lots of farming families and lots of the children have been/still are vegetarian or vegan. Lots of them are not of course and I don’t know any actual farmers that are vegetarian/vegan, only the children of them.

I thought from OP’s post that it was a recent innovation with the implication being that it was purely capitalist, but from your post it sounds like that’s not necessarily the case?

Nothing progressive about my family! Entirely down to cost, I would say. We always had meat for Sunday lunch, usually roast beef, and the leftovers were eaten on Monday evening. My Mum was teaching full-time and went for whatever was quickest and affordable on other nights. My extended family seemed to take a similar approach. When I was growing up housing costs were a lot lower than they are now but food cost more. Now it's the other way round.

You've got to 43 years old and only just realised that cheap meat might have a price that isn't paid for by you .... oh mate!

Our comfortable western lifestyles are built in a piles of bones and exploitation. Make the best choices you can but really going around telling people you have just learnt about factory farming at the grand old age of 43 is rather funny.

Thanks for putting this out there and as I thought, there’s a lot of people on the defence straight away.
this is why people see vegans as so preachy, as they get sick of this all being kept hush hush and think people should know the truth.
I’ve been vegan 15 years now and will never go back.
partner is vegan at home and he says his digestion is so much better since not having meat. More regular for one.

If you're on facebook, have a look at 'Elwood's Organic Dog Meat'.

Do you really, truly, think that deforestation is down to vegan products? Seriously?

If we didn't farm animals, we wouldn't need to feed them. Which in turn means deforestation would reduce dramatically. It's a non-sustainable means of production of food. If we didn't need to exploit animals for food, we wouldn't be hurting as many animals in the production of plants to feed them with (am I explaining this to a grown adult? Maybe not, anyone can use the 'net I suppose)therefore animals harmed during the farming production of soy (80% of which is eaten by animals destined for plates) would also deplete.

I do not 'need' to eat a replica (it isn't there to replicate) any more than anyone 'needs' to eat a beef burger, but if I want to take some vegan burgers to a BBQ just so I can eat something that isn't so different to what everyone else is eating (a BBQ-type food) I will do.

Palm Oil is in almost 50% of all supermarket produce. As vegans count for about 1% of the population, I don't think it is us who are the issue here (just some very basic maths there correct me if I am wrong).

I am not giving in to peer pressure from dead people. Our ancestors (early homo-sapiens) survived because they adapted where other species of human didn't. Not solely because they munched on corpse. We as a species constantly adapt and the way we produce food now is not sustainable long-term.

I don't buy into arguments such as 'We've always done this so we should continue' either. We've been doing unspeakable things to kids, going to war over religion and murdering people for money for centuries too. Should we stop trying to do anything about that? I mean, there's a lot of nonces around and always has been, let's just let 'em off eh? They've always existed.

I grew up rurally and lots of friends who were farmers- still live rurally in a different part of England.

i know quite a few small scale producers and smallholders etc.

having seen all of this, I don’t believe it’s possible to create meat eggs or dairy without cruelty and exploitation. We can each make a decision about whether we don’t want to be part that or whether ‘meh, just animals’

i dont eat meat or milk, I do eat fish eggs and halloumi. Because I actually do think ‘meh, just animals’.

Yeah, that’s interesting.
Ah the only reason I even mentioned wool was in response to the previous poster who was asking if I also then considered how animals were used in the production of veg/grains (like lentils) and transportation. So I was just replying that l had started to consider leather and wool (not what they were suggesting) but hadn’t gone into any great depths of research yet. I’d not have brought up that atall otherwise.

At this stage I was just more interested in the effects of that particular Slingshot campaign on people who may have seen it is all.
But that’s interesting about the piece on Countryfile, I missed that episode but might watch it back out of interest. Thanks.

I am aware that most people don't care, that's the whole point.

I have no health issues whatsoever and never have had (before anyone jumps on this yes, if you count having a cold or a bruise or injuring myself through exercise etc but overall I am healthier than most people I know).

Edited as noting the 'stupid' point. Post grad education.
I am a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them.

Yeah, those notoriously unhealthy (checks notes) vegetables...

What makes you think I got out of the wrong side of bed this morning?

Yeah, the point of my original post was really to see if others had seen that particular campaign and if it made anyone else rethink.

I of course knew animals were bred for slaughter and without looking into it continued on blissfully unaware enough, assuming stun guns were effective and welfare standards were tight and stuck to - but that particular campaign seems to me to be very evidence driven about the detail of the practices of, in that case mass factory farming, and the stats are genuinely shocking (or were to me). That and the blatant branding/labelling/imagery to sell the idea of welfare (which I was happy to buy into). Like you I thought it was really revealing and am grateful for the awareness

Thats interesting and makes sense that they would be bred for wool for clothing/insulation etc hundreds/thousands of years ago when there was need or not many alternatives. And @helderste I'm definitely no authority on any of this, learning as I go, just trying to find data and grateful for some of the conversation here to help inform my own choices. Thank you

I grew up rurally and understood from a young age that we breed and kill animals to eat/consume, and was aware of mass factory farming particularly linked to bigger supermarkets. Like I replied to a pp up thread, I just assumed rigorous welfare assessments with regular checks.

But yeah, I have to admit, I didn't realise the actual conditions inside these dairy warehouses and slaughterhouses, was completely blind (blissfully so) to the detail of the practices and the extent of the actually suffering. Only recently learnt that 90% of pigs in the UK are killed in gas chambers (and the horror of that 'process') or that we kill 900M chickens a year, 95% of those bred and kept in indoor units (deformed/no feet/beaks from being squeezed together and pumped with antibiotics) or that 99.6% of UK slaughterhouses are not compliant with hygiene and food safety requirements (that ones more about us than the animals but still).

I know, 43 is laughable, fair point.

You know OP that if everyone went vegan these animals wouldn't exist at all because nobody would pay to keep them if they weren't part of the food chain?

I completely agree about the level of consciousness and cognisance of these beings (cows, pigs and dare I say octopuses well noted).

I was initially googling vegetarian meal plans for health and budget reasons and then the algorithm kicked in and led me down this rabbit hole and I cut out meat/dairy immediately, was like it wasn't even a choice once I saw the cruelty - those undercover docs are undeniable. But I definitely feel better for it physically too - I actually think thats more to do with cutting out the dairy than meat (maybe) but a month or so in and feel good for it.

Is that supposed to be some kind of gotcha?

No shit Sherlock.