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The U.K. government has been slammed for spending £500,000 (approximately $616,925) of taxpayers’ money on advertisements for the dairy industry.
Last month, a £1 million campaign titled ‘Milk Your Moments’ launched in an effort to persuade more people to buy dairy products after the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis shook the industry.
The 12-week initiative was partly funded by bodies including Defra, Dairy U.K. and AHBD – half of the funding is believed to have come from taxpayer money.
‘Transition to plant-based agriculture’
Animal-rights organization Surge has criticized the campaign and created an online petition calling on the government to ‘provide support to farmers that enables them to transition away from animal agriculture’.
The petition states: “We demand a reform of how our money is spent to help farmers either transition to plant-based agriculture, to diversify their production to produce more crops for human consumption, or to rewild and reforest their lands instead.”
‘How can it be right?’
Promoting the petition on Instagram, Surge said: “During a crisis where charities are struggling to provide food to the most vulnerable people, our taxes are being spent on social media and TV ads shoring up an industry that was failing long before COVID-19.”
Earthling Ed, who co-founded Surge, added: “How can it be right, that the British public is spending more money promoting the dairy industry than the dairy industry itself?”
You can sign the petition here
