Veganuary founder Matthew Glover has announced the launch of Project Slingshot, a campaign designed to “make factory farming indefensible”.
Fronted by celebrities including Diane Morgan, Jen Brister, Shabaz Ali, Dr Amir Khan and Mathew Pritchard, the campaign, which carries the tagline “I don’t buy it” has rolled out across more than 200 London Underground stations and 2,200 Tube carriages.
It targets the claim from the meat industry that gassing pigs in gas chambers qualifies as ‘humane slaughter’.
In a series of ads, each supporter dismisses the claim in their own words ending with the phrase “I don’t buy it”.
The former boss of now defunct Vegan Food Group said on LinkedIn that the goal was to call out “industrial-scale gaslighting” of the British public.
“The truth has been hidden because the industry knew that if we saw it, we’d be outraged, and so they made sure we didn’t see it, and they called the system ‘humane’ while they were at it,” he added.
The campaign also has the support of comedian Simon Amstell, author and historian Rutger Bregman, actor Mark Rylance, Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney, and Neil Duncan-Jordan MP.
“We’re killing nine out of 10 pigs in gas chambers, said Rylance. “The government knows it causes pain and fear. The industry knows we’d object if we knew. So they made sure we didn’t.”
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Around 90% of pigs reared in England and Wales are subject to pre-slaughter stunning and last year, a policy paper published by Defra’s independent Animal Welfare Committee suggested the pig sector should be “prohibited” from using the process due to animal welfare concerns. It suggested a transition to other stunning methods proposed within the next five years.
Glover also pointed to how government advisors had recommended the end of CO2 gas stunning since 2003. At the time, the Farm Animal Welfare Council said CO2 stunning was “not acceptable” and called for it to be phased out in five years in favour of non-aversive gas mixtures.
“The government has promised to phase out CO2 gassing, and then asked the industry for permission, and unsurprisingly, the industry is delaying,” said Glover. “We are not going to let that story disappear quietly.
“This is the first drumbeat, and there will be many more, each one louder and harder to ignore than the one before.”
Project Slingshot aims to bring the truth behind gas chambers – and other industrial factory farming practices – to light with the overall goal to end factory farming by 2040.
“Despite the evidence that pigs experience severe pain and distress, and die gasping for air, the industry asks us to believe that they kill pigs in gas chambers, not because it is cheap, but because it is humane,” said Project Slingshot co-founder Naomi Hallum. “We simply don’t buy it. This has all the hallmarks of industrial-scale gaslighting. It seems that while the pigs get gassed, the rest of us get gaslit.”
The campaign website lists 20 companies in its ‘Hall of Shame’ in categories including eggs, pork, beef, poultry, dairy and fish. It also calls out assurance schemes as “labels lie”.
Glover is a long-time vegan activist and founded Veganuary in 2014. He is also managing director of vegan investment firm Veg Capital, and was chair of The Vegan Food Group until the business wound down operations in the UK at the start of the year.
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