2025: Viva! Review

INTRODUCTION by Juliet Gellatley, Viva!’s Founder & Director

2025 has been a defining year for Viva! – a year in which courage, creativity and unwavering compassion collided to create extraordinary impact. From headline-grabbing campaigns to bold public actions, we pushed harder than ever to expose the truth behind animal agriculture and inspire people to choose kindness. Our mission, now more than three decades strong, remains as vital as ever – revealing the cruelty hidden behind the meat and dairy industries and offering something radically hopeful in its place: veganism.

This year proved that when truth is delivered with persistence, empathy and sometimes free vegan treats(!), people listen. Our message reached millions through cinema screens, national media, high-street outreach, digital platforms and public events, sparking conversations that cannot be ignored. Time and again, people told us they had no idea what really happens behind closed doors – and that Viva!’s work opened their eyes, shifted their habits and brought compassion to the forefront of their choices.

For me personally, 2025 began with a passionate push to promote Veganuary, taking to the airwaves, debating the Countryside Alliance on GBTV and speaking across multiple radio stations to make the case for a kinder, healthier future. These national conversations showed that veganism is no longer a fringe idea but a serious, evidence-backed solution worthy of mainstream attention. And the year ended in a profoundly different, deeply personal way: I took my son Jazz inside a factory farm for the first time. Together, we witnessed the heartbreaking reality faced by mother pigs and their babies – intelligent, sensitive animals trapped in crates, injured, frightened and denied even the smallest comfort. Watching Jazz absorb this cruelty and seeing his compassion strengthen into fierce determination, reminded me exactly why we fight. Bearing witness alongside him reaffirmed that our work is not only vital but urgently necessary and that every new person who joins this movement fuels the hope we carry into the future.

None of what follows in this review would have been possible without you. Your generosity, your activism, your conversations and your belief in Viva! have powered every breakthrough of 2025. As we look toward 2026, the momentum is undeniable. With new investigations, expanding outreach and fresh campaigns already in motion, we enter the coming year stronger, louder and more united than ever. Thank you for standing with us – for the animals, for the planet and for much-needed hope. Together, we are unstoppable.

This year was one of our boldest for campaigns ever, with daring visual content, fearless investigations and powerful public stunts. Viva! campaigns shifted hearts and habits and inspired real change, all thanks to our supporters.

DAIRY IS SCARY

VIVA’S DAIRY IS SCARY CINEMA ADVERT

Our cinema advert Dairy is Scary was right at the heart of our street outreach and social media campaigns throughout the year. These are just a handful of the hundreds of positive reactions to the UK’s first anti-dairy cinema ad:

• “Wish it could be shown all over the world.”
• “Masterpiece. Bravo!”
• “We need this everywhere!”

Watch the powerful advert:

Thanks to the donations of you, our supporters, we exposed the truth about dairy in over 300 cinemas all over the UK – played to ONE MILLION cinema goers, reaching 16 million more with our powerful social media campaign coverage. The ad cut through the fantasy of happy cows and rolling green fields, gaining high-profile media coverage; even GB News showed the advert and invited us on to talk about dairy, twice! Countless people, struck by the campaign, admitted they had no idea cows are repeatedly made pregnant to produce milk or that their calves are routinely taken and killed.

Every watch means one more person learning what the dairy industry tries to hide and that switching to plant-based is the way to stop supporting cruelty.

DAIRY IS SCARY – OUTREACH TOUR: TAKING THE TRUTH TO THE STREETS

Hot off the back of the cinema advert’s success, our Dairy is Scary campaign hit British high streets. With freezers full of delicious Ben and Jerry’s ice creams, we visited cities all over the UK, giving away thousands of vegan treats and engaging more than 5,000 people, opening their eyes to just how scary dairy is.

There were queues around the block, as our setup stopped people in their tracks: a cosy baby crib with a spinning cow mobile that, on closer inspection, revealed blood-splattered cows, not to mention our stunt that brought Birmingham city centre to a standstill:

Our outreach teams guided people gently through what really happens in dairy farming. Thousands watched our investigation footage, too, prompting powerful emotional reactions, with each person leaving informed, empowered and ready to change their dairy habits.

See our great tour video:

Some of our favourite reflections from our campaign wrap-up video:

• “Banging! So good and it’s nicer to animals and the planet.”

• “Tastes better than the real thing!”

• “After seeing that, I think I’m going to make a change. I’m going to avoid the dairy industry.”

• “I didn’t know there was so much disease and that the lifespan was so short.”

• “Anyone with emotions, anyone with some empathy towards animals would not like to see that.”

• “I feel like more people should know because if they did, they would want to go vegan.”

• “They keep the cows pregnant so the milk can be produced, which is cruel when you think about it.”

• “We don’t need dairy on any level, it’s not good for the environment, it’s not good for us and it’s not good for the animals.”

• “It’s taking milk off another animal that’s meant for its baby.”

The tour generated huge momentum for what is one of our most ambitious social media campaigns to date, with over 16 million social impressions (climbing daily!).

THANKS TO YOU, CENSORSHIP BECOMES AMPLIFICATION

Truth versus censorship is often a fine balancing act when we are campaigning for the animals. We never set out to be censored but when the reality of animal suffering is too honest for some, it can become unavoidable.

In 2023, our Müller Killer campaign reached 3.5 million viewers at launch. But once the ad was banned and hit the headlines, its reach skyrocketed, outperforming campaigns backed by major advertising budgets.

The same happened this year with Dairy is Scary. Sadly, just a handful of complaints (some from the dairy industry) triggered censorship, which in turn sparked more than 250 press articles and television features. However, combined with the one million cinema views we already had, plus over 16 million social impressions, the campaign has now gone on to reach an estimated 97 million people… and it’s growing!

This impact matters. The majority of Brits are still unaware that cows must be made pregnant and give birth to produce milk. It’s a tragic and simple truth that, once understood, often leads people to question dairy and choose veganism.

Thanks to your support, when our message is challenged, it cuts through even stronger, helping more people recognise the truth for themselves.

Vox pops and personal stories were remarkably popular across social media and national TV appearances meant we could challenge dairy myths with entirely new audiences.

DAIRY IS SCARY – BROKEN BONDS

We ended the year with a truly unforgettable video. Viva! laid bare a heartbreaking fact: the mother and baby bond is the strongest in the world, yet dairy keeps breaking it, forcing millions of animals to suffer needlessly every single day. These parents couldn’t believe what they were watching:

DAIRY IS SCARY – OUTREACH HOSTS

The impact of Dairy is Scary went way further than a five-city tour. Thanks to our incredible volunteer outreach hosts, events also took place in 15 additional towns and cities, including Leeds, Brighton, Swansea, Exeter, Shrewsbury and London. At each event, hosts handed out free vegan samples and our new anti-dairy leaflet, How to Escape:

Our outreach team in Bath with friends

We have seen a huge increase in the number of individuals wanting to get involved with volunteering and hosting events. The outreach guide, website and training programme have been updated and the Zoom training event in November saw 40 registrants. There is also an updated set of host guidelines, code of practice and safeguarding policy.

We currently have teams in the following towns and cities if you would like to come along:  Swindon, Bath, Exeter and Taunton, Lancaster, Walsall, Loughborough, Lincoln and Peterborough, Eastbourne and Hastings, Brighton,  Leeds, Manchester, Swansea, Norwich, Leicester, Reading and Newbury, Windsor, Birmingham and Worcester, Liverpool, London, Telford, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Tunbridge Wells, Sheffield, Ashford, and Horsham, as well as our newest groups in Bideford and Barnstaple, and Cardiff.

Not only are the hosts creative and hardworking, representing Viva! on their local high street most months, but they have also attended a variety of other events including climate coalitions, markets, wellbeing weekends and supporting the annual Vegan Camp Out. Another group has just enrolled in a working party developing resources for ‘vegan allies’ so that loved ones of committed vegans understand better the reasons why someone is vegan and how important their support is. Additionally, some hosts have taken on the role of being a buddy to support new hosts or those who are finding the building of teams more difficult in their area.

Our teams have access to all of Viva!’s amazing resources, including undercover footage, leaflets and guides, and consistently deliver effective outreach to thousands of people throughout the year. In 2025, our teams held approximately 150 events and Christmas was even busier than 2024, with our stalls bedecked with tinsel and leaflets, as we inspired people to plan a cruelty-free festive holiday.

The host network has an active WhatsApp group and a monthly Zoom meeting. Both have been developed to provide support, a platform to share good practice and a valued sense of community. We also had our third annual team day at Brook Farm Animal Sanctuary – a small 10-acre, family run sanctuary.

One of our outreach hosts said about our team days:

“I love them – it is such a great opportunity to meet other hosts and volunteers, share ideas about outreach events and help care for the rescued animals. Becoming a volunteer with Viva! has been a great experience. I wanted to get involved with the charity because I’m passionate about grassroots activism and I think Viva! outreach events are an effective way of raising awareness about the realities of the animal agriculture industries. The team days reinforce for me what a fantastic community of volunteers I have joined, and spending time with them in such a peaceful setting is always inspiring.”

Our team day at Brook Farm 2025

The network’s exciting plans for 2026 include hosting two ‘super’ events where we ask hosts from around the country to join us as we contrast the joyful lives of sentient and intelligent pigs with the realities of factory farming. We will also be collaborating with the vegan and vegetarian network across the Ministry of Defence. It would be wonderful to have a Viva! presence on all our army, navy and air force bases across the UK.

GASPING FOR LIFE

At the end of last year, we confronted the public with the brutal truth: pigs are still being gassed to death in British slaughterhouses. This year, sure enough (and not for the first time over the decades), the government’s advisory body the Animal Welfare Committee issued a 2025 report saying the distress and suffering at slaughter associated with high-concentration CO₂ gassing in pigs should be “prohibited”.

We have stepped up our fight against CO₂ gassing, this time bringing awareness to how chickens are forced to suffer. In the UK, 78 per cent of the 1.19 billion chickens slaughtered each year are killed in gas chambers. Carbon dioxide is commonly used, and this causes an acutely painful burning of the eyes, nose, mouth and lungs, leaving birds gasping, panicking and feeling as if they’re burning from the inside out.

Gasping for Life pulled back the curtain on this hidden horror and challenged the idea that there is any such thing as “humane” slaughter.

Viva! in London  

By the end of the year, our hard-hitting visuals were impossible to ignore, as high-profile digital billboards and a huge, noisy cinema truck travelled across London, looping our They All Want to Live film outside major landmarks and through packed streets. Millions of people were confronted with the reality of CO₂ gassing. Our outreach was targeted to hit the busiest time of year, Black Friday and early Christmas shoppers, and our team spoke to hundreds of passers-by and literally brought streets to a standstill, sparking anger, tears and urgent questions.

Our impactful leaflet:

It is a sobering but hope-filled campaign; time and again people told us they had no idea how chickens are killed. But with delicious free vegan food samples, we were able to encourage them to stop and think about how they may cherish some birds while supporting the suffering and slaughter of billions of chickens. All the people we spoke to wanted to end the practice, with most surprised it was even legal. Our message, which we will continue in 2026, was clear and resonated deeply: there is no humane way to kill an animal, and going vegan is how we put an end to needless suffering.

Watch how Viva! took over London:

TruTaste

Viva! launches Britain’s first (pretend) truly honest fast-food company

TruTaste, our parody of the fast-food industry, took London by storm. Fronted by a bold, tongue-in-cheek ad campaign, we drew huge crowds around our cinema truck on packed Black Friday streets, inviting people to “see where their fast food really comes from”.

Once they had watched the advert, we then showed them how animals are farmed and slaughtered. The reactions were unforgettable: horror and a dawning realisation of their own complicity in buying meat-based fast food. Rather than being annoyed, people thanked us, with reactions like: “That’s it, I’m done eating meat,” once they realised the cruelty hidden behind convenience. Our team had an incredible time bringing TruTaste to life, and with such a powerful response and rave reviews for the vegan samples we handed out, there’s every chance this honest “fast food brand” will be hitting the streets again in 2026.

HALFWAY HEROES – a new kind of climate campaign

Halfway Heroes is our bold new response to climate paralysis, a campaign that flips the doom narrative on its head and proves that change can be simple, hopeful and delicious. Building on the success of 50 For Our Planet, we’re taking on one of THE biggest drivers of environmental destruction: meat and dairy. Instead of overwhelming people with the scale of the crisis, Halfway Heroes makes it doable. Our message is unapologetically clear: go 50 per cent plant-based, and you’re already halfway to being a climate hero.

See our flagship advert, seen by over five million across socials:

Using humour and a memorable launch video, The Methane Menace, we have engaged people who usually switch off from climate messaging.

The Methane Menace is on the loose!

The runaway Methane Menace Burger from the video became a symbol of deforestation and methane emissions, helping us turn a serious issue into something powerfully shareable.

In partnership with THIS™, our five-city outreach tour brought the message directly to thousands of people, as we handed out over 700 free vegan burgers, sparking conversations about meat and dairy’s impact. Most people were trying plant-based burgers for the first time, and the universal reaction was delight at how good they tasted.

See our popular leaflet:

The public have been signing up to our Halfway Heroes email journey in their droves, receiving tips, recipes and environmental insights straight to their inbox. Engagement has been outstanding, with click-through rates far above industry averages, a sign that people are not only interested, but ready to act. With more than seven million online impressions so far, Halfway Heroes will accelerate in 2026, and we want your help to recruit the next wave of heroes. Maybe those people in your life reluctant to address the impact of what they consume but who, deep-down, suspect they should! With all the resources on offer, we’re excited to see the campaign grow.

STREET ART COLLABORATION FOR CHRISTMAS

The year ended with a Viva! first, as we brought our message to life through street art, collaborating with world-renowned mural artist Louis Michel to spark public compassion for turkeys at Christmas. Everyone who passed in Shoreditch stopped to admire the vibrant patchwork turkey, complete with a festive cracker hat.

The mural, the first in a series to be spotted on high profile walls across the UK, highlighted the beauty and individuality of these inquisitive animals, tragically too often seen only as food. As people gathered, our outreach team talked them through what happens to the nine million turkeys killed in the UK every year for Christmas dinner. Many admitted they had never considered turkeys as individuals, focusing only on so-called tradition.

See the video of our collaboration:

With additional murals popping up all over the UK, this bold collaboration fused art and activism and challenged the notion of festive joy built on suffering.

See the leaflet we handed out to thousands all over the UK, making people realise that being cool means being kind.

WOULD YOU SWAP?

We continued our successful outreach in universities with Would You Swap? – campaigning in campuses across Bristol, Bath, Cardiff and Cambridge. Students tasted delicious vegan samples, explored the horrible realities of factory farming through our immersive VR headsets and discovered how easy it is to swap what’s on their plate for a vegan alternative.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, Viva! investigations launched a new wave of hard-hitting undercover projects in 2025.

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST PORK PRODUCER

Our expose of Cranswick, suppliers to major UK supermarkets – including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco – revealed the appalling practices of Britain’s biggest pork producer.

At two Red Tractor-assured farms, pigs were found suffering from burst hernias, uterine prolapses, necrotic ear wounds and disease, with dead piglets and rotting bodies left among the living. Sows were trapped in tiny farrowing crates, unable to turn around or comfort their young, forced to produce unnaturally large litters, with around two piglets per litter dying before weaning.

With 85 per cent of UK farmed animals imprisoned in factory farms and 98 per cent of pigs spending their lives indoors, investigations like this are vital in making the public realise that only by choosing vegan can we stop supporting suffering. Thanks to the continued generosity of our supporters, we have more powerful investigations in the pipeline.

BREAK FREE – BEARING WITNESS AS A MOTHER

This year’s undercover work concluded with an investigation that was especially personal for Juliet, as she took her son Jazz into a factory farm for the first time.

They witnessed severe animal suffering. They saw mother pigs confined in tiny crates, unable to stand or turn, living in their own waste with injuries on their bodies. Jazz described sows with vacant, broken expressions – treated as breeding machines, forcibly impregnated through invasive procedures carried out while they’re restrained.

Piglets were kept on bare wooden slatted floors, taken from their mothers far too young and confined with almost nothing for enrichment – sometimes just a single plastic ball. Older pigs lived in cramped, filthy ‘fattening’ pens until slaughter. The sheds were dark, stinking and full of flies, with an atmosphere Jazz compared to a torture chamber. Both were struck by the contrast between the animals’ innocence and the extreme, hidden cruelty of the farming system.

Juliet said: “What Jazz witnessed was deeply heartbreaking but instead of despair, I saw something ignite, a strengthening in his resolve to fight for the animals. In him I recognised the same fire that drives all of us at Viva! and as we left the farm that night, I was reminded that every new person who joins this movement brings fresh hope. I remain profoundly grateful to you for empowering us to keep uncovering the truth and driving real change for the animals.”

Their exposé is for use in a major campaign next year but is also being shown in over 20 different films on social media, which will be viewed by over one million people! They are exposing ‘standard’ pig factory farming in the UK and also providing the answer with ‘Simple Swaps’ and ideas to quickly start changing to cruelty-free living on a landing page that is having an extraordinarily high social media referral traffic.

You are Gorilla Defenders! Appeal Target Smashed!

We are proud to say that our Viva! UK supporters smashed our appeal target to ensure the remaining half of the HUGO (Human & Gorilla Conflict Resolution) volunteers in Uganda are better equipped to save mountain gorillas. After the successful delivery of field equipment to 70 HUGO vols in 2024, Viva! Uganda handed over more essential equipment to the remaining 90 men, which will keep them safe, supported and ready for the tough conditions they face in Bwindi National Park.

Why so vital?

Human-gorilla conflict is a major issue, particularly when gorillas venture into villages on the edge of the forest and eat inviting crops. HUGO volunteers prevent around 90 per cent of these conflicts by peacefully persuading the gorillas to return to their forest home. Just as importantly, HUGO are turning poachers into anti-poachers and have established poacher reform groups in Bwindi villages.

Protecting the protectors

Volunteers come from local communities in the Bwindi region and are extremely poor. Last year we raised enough funds to equip half of them. You have now ensured that Viva! UK can enable Viva! Uganda to equip the remaining half of the HUGO volunteers so that they can protect the threatened mountain gorilla.

Bwindi in Uganda is home to 459 of the last remaining 1,063 mountain gorillas on earth. Since their discovery, mountain gorillas have faced poaching, civil wars, deforestation and persistent encroachment on their territory at the hands of humans. Illegal logging and animal agriculture have forced them to migrate into the path of hunters and poachers.

Viva! UK and Viva! Uganda collaborate on this important project to protect mountain gorillas. See more at gorilladefenders.org

KindHeart

Our KindHeart campaign continued to transform lives across Uganda. This year alone, more than 17,000 schoolchildren attended humane education sessions, learning that kindness is strength and that plant-based choices protect both animals and people. We expanded our work to incorporate vegan cooking lessons – very eagerly watched (and tasted!) by thousands of children.

Mega Heart Health Campaign

In June, we launched H7: Can You Love Your Heart for 7 Days? – a groundbreaking campaign inviting Ugandans to try a fully plant-based diet for one week as an act of self-care and prevention. With a talented local chef, we developed 21 Ugandan-inspired plant-based recipes, produced bilingual cook-along videos and released the Viva! Uganda H7 recipe book, now sold across East Africa. These resources proved that healthy, affordable and culturally rooted plant-based meals are within everyone’s reach.

The campaign launch brought together 60 guests, many managing diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, for Uganda’s first fully plant-based buffet of its kind. Honest conversations unfolded about medical costs, cultural expectations and the desire for long, healthy lives. Doctors and dieticians, including Dr Achelam Derrick, provided trusted guidance, and our social media content featuring them gained more than 10,000 views. By week’s end, 95 per cent of participants felt physically better and 80 per cent reduced their meat intake. WhatsApp support groups, recipe books and lunchboxes helped participants build confidence and new cooking habits.

Partnerships That Expanded Our Impact

In 2025, we deepened partnerships with community groups, hosting monthly Gym & Bible sessions that reached more than 400 people with cooking demos, nutrition talks and practical coaching. Participants learned to prepare dishes like mushroom curry and beetroot burgers using familiar, affordable ingredients, sparking personal conversations about family health and cultural pressure to serve meat.

Major plant-based partners, including Thrive Africa, chefs, clinics and content creators, approached us for collaboration, cementing Viva! Uganda as a leading voice in the movement. At large events – from Vegan Restaurant Week to the Sustainable Tourism Festival at the Sheraton Kampala – we served tasting tables, cooked for crowds, and inspired hundreds to enjoy healthier meals. A new healthy-eating competition boosted engagement, while our social media following grew 500 per cent, creating a vibrant community of intentional eaters motivated to improve their health and reduce harm to animals.

Good Samaritan Primary School Partnership

Our school outreach expanded as we supplied fresh fruits and vegetables to Good Samaritan Primary School for three full terms. More than 280 vulnerable pupils benefited daily, reinforcing our belief that lifelong healthy habits begin in childhood.

A Year of Progress, Purpose and Powerful Firsts

In 2025, Viva! Uganda launched a flagship health campaign, built influential partnerships, reached hundreds in person and thousands online, and inspired meaningful reductions in meat consumption across Uganda. We helped people reconnect with traditional plant foods, supported community health and reduced harm to animals. Your support also strengthened protection for Uganda’s endangered mountain gorillas through HUGO volunteers.

As we look ahead to 2026, Viva! Uganda stands proudly at the forefront of health-driven, plant-powered transformation – for people, animals and the planet.

Historic victory! Fur farming banned

2025 marked a historic breakthrough in Viva! Poland’s two-decade fight to end fur farming in Poland.

Finally, we have brought an end to one of the country’s cruellest industries. The new law blocks the opening of any new fur farms and requires all existing operations to close by 2033, while also increasing pressure on the European Commission to introduce an EU-wide ban.

The Bill, submitted by MP Małgorzata Tracz and prepared by Viva! Poland in cooperation with Open Cages, was signed into law by President Karol Nawrocki on 8 December 2025. It marks the culmination of more than 20 years of campaigning by Viva! Poland, often carried out in the face of hostility and even violence from fur farmers.

Viva! investigators have repeatedly exposed the suffering of millions of mink, foxes, raccoon dogs and chinchillas kept in filthy wire cages and killed solely for their fur. Poland, the world’s second-largest fur producer after China, has been responsible for the deaths of over three million animals each year.

Poland now becomes the 24th European country to ban fur farming. As such a major producer exits the industry, campaigners say an EU-wide ban – demanded through the Fur Free Europe citizens’ initiative – now feels closer than ever.

Other campaigns

Alongside this triumph, Viva! continued to push forward legal and systemic reforms. The Foundation played a key role in the Citizenship Initiative, calling for a ban on dog chaining, mandatory chipping and sterilisation, and stronger protections for Poland’s 950,000 homeless animals.

It also acted as an auxiliary prosecutor in the high-profile cruelty case involving carp at the University of Agriculture in Kraków and celebrated a landmark ruling in the puma Nubia case, where the court recognised the psychological suffering of a wild animal kept in domestic conditions.

Additionally, Viva! challenged discriminatory school-nutrition regulations and led a nationwide petition demanding vegan meal options in hospitals.

On 8 May 2025, Świński Los Poland’s first pro-animal escape room, premiered in Warsaw. Created by Viva! Poland in partnership with the Lockme platform and Mysterious Room, the 40-minute immersive experience has been open to the public since 16 May.Players take on the role of pigs and move through realistically recreated spaces symbolising stages of life on industrial farms. The goal is to provoke reflection and raise awareness about the reality of intensive animal agriculture.

Public education and outreach continued to grow in scale and impact. National Vegan Week remained the country’s largest plant-based event, drawing record numbers to workshops, tastings, lectures and community vegan barbecues. World Plant Milk Day took place in nine cities, offering tastings and education on the ethical, health and environmental benefits of plant-based alternatives.

Viva! Poland concluded its 25th anniversary year by gathering activists, staff and volunteers for a weekend of reflection, training and celebration. Animal Rights Week once again served as a nationwide platform for promoting legal reform and empathy-based education, especially among students and young people. Altogether, 2025 was a year of historic wins, expanded public engagement and meaningful progress – bringing Poland closer to a future where animals are treated with the compassion and dignity they deserve.

Back to the UK…

Vegan Recipe Club rang in the new year with a Grubby partnership, giving our subscribers exclusive recipes from this popular brand, plus a discount on Grubby meal kits. The successful collaborations didn’t stop there. Vegan Recipe Club and Viva! joined forces with Heather Mills, VBites and No Bloat, including a successful giveaway of No Bloat packets. VBites has added the Viva! logo to all their products and the two organisations have been working together to promote shared goals and widen their reach.

The team enjoyed their annual school workshop at Ribston School (one of the many talks Viva! gives), giving a large group of students the chance to explore all the reasons to go vegan. The day included an interactive presentation, sampling and rating delicious vegan products, quizzes, debates and cooking up a tasty chilli. Engagement was fantastic, with many students admitting they’d never considered some of these issues before and expressing enthusiasm for making positive changes.

Vegan Recipe Club supported the campaigns team in highlighting where to get protein and calcium on a vegan diet. The team sourced a variety of easily accessible supermarket products and created an image-led project to clearly show which foods contain these nutrients, helping new and existing vegans understand just how simple it is to reach the recommended daily allowance. These resources were shared through videos and photographs through social media and via the new V7 meal plans.

The team were delighted to launch the new AI bot, Lila, as part of the V7 programmes. The meal plans are designed to support new vegans and the vegan-curious with seven days of delicious plant-based recipes, including serving suggestions, tips, optional extras, myth-busting fact sheets and all the information needed to help people go vegan. Lila is programmed to answer all the questions you might have when starting your vegan journey.

To extend the reach of the V7 meal plans, Vegan Recipe Club partnered with a series of fantastic influencers, including Vegan Dad, Priya Uma and Luisa Christie, who shared V7 recipes like Katsu Curry and Everyone Can Cook Vegan giveaways, reaching thousands online. The collaboration with Millie Vegan has continued beyond her V7 videos to include extensive promotion of the Viva! cookbook Everyone Can Cook Vegan. Millie Vegan’s series of four cookbook Reels, posted over the last few months, have amassed over 33k views, garnered 986 likes and 234 comments, the majority of which were requesting the link to the webpage to purchase the cookbook.

2025 also saw the launch of the V7 high-protein meal plan, Protein Power, offering a comprehensive programme of high-protein recipes for all ages and lifestyles. It includes practical tips on how to add plant-based protein to everyday meals, whether at home or on the go. Coming soon, we’re excited to launch a series of humour-led V7 promotional videos designed to resonate with veggie and flexitarian audiences.

The team had an extraordinary time at Vegan Camp Out this year, with sales of Everyone Can Cook Vegan and the mini cookbook A Very Vegan Christmas reaching an all-time high. There were many encouraging conversations with festivalgoers seeking advice on cooking, recipes, nutrients and health, as well as sharing experiences and beliefs.

Autumn saw the launch of the new Vegan Recipe Club campaign, InclusiviTEA, which aims to introduce plant milks into UK chain hotel rooms and hot drink stations. As part of the project, the team developed a visually striking infographic and case study to accompany outreach boxes, which also include samples of plant milks and vegan chocolate. The first boxes have now been sent to hotels, and the team is excited to head into 2026 ready to expand the campaign, engaging directly with hotel leadership and purchasing teams to turn this goal into reality.

Early in the year, Juliet was interviewed on numerous radio stations about V7, including Phoenix FM, where the presenter was so inspired that she tried and loved V7! Later that month, Laura Hellwig appeared on BBC Radio 2’s Midnight Mastermind as the specialist on vegan meat substitutes, highlighting Viva!’s role in normalising plant-based eating.

In February, Juliet joined BBC Bristol Radio’s Steve Yabsley to talk about veganism from every angle, from animal welfare and the environment to diet and physiology. The conversation was engaging, thoughtful and full of heart.

In PR, Karin secured coverage for A Very Vegan Christmas in major publications such as Round & About magazine (circulation 504k) and Your Home magazine (circulation 53k).

2025 has been a fantastic year for Vegan Recipe Club’s social media growth. Over the past 12 months, our Facebook community grew by more than 30k followers, reaching a total of 271k, while Instagram welcomed an additional 14k followers, hitting a total of 33k. Across both platforms, our content reached over 12 million unique viewers. Our top-performing Facebook post this year was a pasta meme that truly went viral, reaching 464,521 people and generating 6,504 reactions. On Instagram, the standout post was a comedy-led Reel highlighting the VRC website, which reached 764,958 viewers and received 2,393 likes, proving once again that a little humour goes a long way.

2026 will see lots of new recipe plan developments such as exciting campaigns for V7 Original and V7 Protein Power and a brand new Cheap as Chips recipe plan for those of us on a budget.

VRC will also be campaigning to partner with hotel chains to introduce plant-milks into hotel rooms in our latest campaign, InclusiviTEA: getting plant milks in hotel rooms because everyone deserves a cuppa!

The inspiring and wonderful Viva! hero 88-year-old Paul Youd not only completed an ultra-challenge of walking 50km but also starred in his own mini-documentary, More Like Paul. Paul represented the resilience of our entire Viva! community. Across the UK people ran, baked, cycled and campaigned for animals. Each act of support, no matter how small, rippled outward, building a movement rooted in love and action.

Supporter-funded billboards went up in Suffolk, Bristol and Swindon in October and November. Viva!’s newest billboard artwork, One Good Reason, with its powerful and inspiring message, first went up in Suffolk and was funded by a JustGiving crowdfunder set up by long-time Viva! supporter Sadie Jade.

We also partnered with Viva! patron Heather Mills and her company V-Bites who are now displaying the Viva! logo proudly on their packaging.

This year saw Juliet give a main stage talk, David Versus Goliath, to a packed crowd of several hundred. Laura Hellwig also made her main stage debut, while Kit, Jo and Ben delivered impassioned talks on the Education stage, where Juliet also had the pleasure of interviewing renowned Michelin-starred chef Alexis Gauthier!

A huge thank you to everyone at Viva! who worked so hard to make the event a success, especially Emily and Sarah for organising this huge event so smoothly. We talked to thousands of people! And thank you to every single one of you who joined us, donated, bought our merch or even just stopped by for a chat. We were overwhelmed by the number of people who told us they are vegan because of the work Viva! has done over the years – it is genuinely humbling to hear from you.

Vegan Camp Out is always a true highlight of the vegan calendar, a unique celebration that blends entertainment, activism, incredible food and inspiring speeches.

2025 saw us interview several inspiring vegan celebrities, including: BOSH!, Heather Mills, Patrik Baboumian, Alexis Gauthier, Dale Vince, Matt Pritchard, Bite Size Vegan, Dr Sailesh Rao, Tanya O’Callaghan, Clare Lucie, Kate Nash and Liam Penn. Plus Kit McGrath joined Faye Lewis for the monthly news minisode.

In 2025, Viva! published four vibrant issues of Viva!life, our supporter magazine edited by Tony Wardle, packed with features on campaigns, vegan news and interviews with celebrities including Kate Nash, Alexis Gauthier and Matt Pritchard. If you haven’t already joined, becoming a Viva! member ensures you receive your own copies! viva.org.uk/join

We also launched another beautiful Gifts for Life catalogue and an expanded Viva! Shop, featuring new vegan designs, mouth-watering chocolates and thoughtful gifts. Huge thanks go to Emily Coster for curating such a joyful and inspiring collection and Simon Parkin for the beautiful design work.