Viva!’s 30th Anniversary!
Viva!’s early years (1994-2002)
This is the remarkable journey of Viva!, a journey that began in 1994 with Juliet Gellatley founding and launching a new organisation whose main goal was to campaign loud and proud for veganism. Juliet was fuelled by the support of associate director, Tony Wardle, and a generous donation from animal advocate and author, Audrey Eyton. The inaugural year marked the launch of the Convert-a-Parent campaign, propelling Viva! into the spotlight with coverage in 180 regional papers and national media outlets – not bad for year one!
As Viva! gained momentum, 1995 saw us orchestrating children’s marches against live export across 12 cities, garnering extensive TV coverage and raising awareness about animal cruelty. The following year, a campaign against religious slaughter garnered national TV coverage and radio broadcasts, solidifying Viva!’s presence as a central player advocating for ethical treatment of animals.
1997 witnessed a triumph as supermarkets dropped kangaroo meat after a successful Viva! campaign in the UK and Australia, while 1998 marked the collapse of the ostrich meat industry, attributing its demise to Viva!’s impactful campaigns. The late ‘1990s set the stage for Viva! to launch the Ducks Out of Water campaign, backed by model, actress and animal lover Twiggy, which resulted in a nationwide ban on duck debeaking in 2000.
Viva! ended the decade in style in 1999 when Juliet Gellatley won the Linda McCartney Animal Welfare Award as part of the first Pride of Britain Daily Mirror Awards. The award was presented by Paul McCartney at a ceremony at London’s Dorchester Hotel attended by a host of celebrities and policymakers.
In the early 2000s Viva! made strides against factory farming with regional rallies and celebrity endorsements. Viva! Health was born, providing crucial resources on vegan health and nutrition, and we were able to look further afield – to Poland, where in 2001 Viva! Poland was birthed and hit the ground running with its horse campaign!
Expansion and reach (2003-2015)
Viva! revealed the Dark Side of Dairy in 2005 with a new report and video on the cruelty of dairy farming. In 2006, Viva! Health (then the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation) launched the White Lies campaign, publishing a report of the same name detailing the extensive detrimental health effects of consuming cow’s milk and dairy products. We brought attention to the health impact of dairy by taking a giant pint of pus to the Department of Health in London where we delivered a sellout talk at King’s College raising awareness of the harmful effects of dairy.
In 2007, Viva! took a bold step, bringing Heather Mills undercover on a pig farm, sparking a campaign against farrowing crates. The HOT‘ campaign, which connected climate change and animal agriculture, grabbed national headlines. Tony Wardle’s report Diet of Disaster, launched the same year, drew attention to how meat and dairy harm the planet. Viva! Held a big rally calling for the badger cull to be dropped in 2008 and debunked the myth of white meat’s healthiness with the White Meat Black Mark campaign in (2009).
The digitally savvy amongst you will know this was the boom of the digital marketing era, so Viva! adapted to the times, launching the Vegan Recipe Club in 2012, amassing a following of 50,000 (now reaching over 230,000). This period also witnessed the Face Off and Cracked campaigns, utilising undercover footage to challenge the practices of the chicken, dairy and egg industries. The Incredible Vegan Health Report was released, which was a trailblazing initiative based on scientific research, that further underscored the health benefits of a vegan lifestyle.
The latter part of the decade saw Viva! securing victories against mega-farms and multiple retailers dropping foie gras. We continued to wield influence, unveiling undercover investigations into battery cage piglets, advocating for vegan diets to prevent diabetes and exposing the horrors of turkey farming.
Continued triumphs and global impact (2016-2020)
Viva! entered a new era in 2016 with the Face Off campaign, becoming the first UK charity group to have its founder talking to camera about conditions inside the farms. The campaign covered chicken, dairy and pig farming, evolving into a virtual reality (VR) film urging the public to face off against the pig industry. The Cracked campaign extended Viva!’s reach by filming undercover on egg farms and revealing the footage on the London Underground where hen masks were worn and leaflets distributed on World Egg Day in November.
In 2017, Viva! achieved a significant milestone by launching the UK’s first vegan cinema advert, featuring footage from investigations and the rescue of a pig named Hope and her six babies.
Also in 2017, Viva! investigated Hogwood Farm and launched a campaign that would continue for three years… more on that to follow.
2018 marked a relentless pursuit of justice for animals as Viva! returned to Hogwood, toured the UK in a vegan ice-cream van and launched the TRASH campaign exposing the shooting of 95,000 male calves as a byproduct of the dairy industry. We also broke ground with the first vegan YouTube ad, reaching over one million views in a month!
As Viva! progressed into 2019, we extended street outreach initiatives, distributed dairy-free cappuccinos and vegan hotdogs and successfully campaigned for the closure of Hogwood farm. The Vegan Now campaign, launched in 2019, gaining substantial traction, featuring Michael Mansfield QC and reaching millions through national newspapers.
The year 2020 brought unprecedented challenges, but Viva! responded with the launch of 3 in 4, shedding light on the connection between pandemics and animal agriculture. We responded to covid by our Zoonoses report and producing videos on the origins of coronavirus, launched viral Slash the Risk billboard campaigns and later in the year when restrictions were lifted, conducted undercover investigations into British pig farms.
Viva!’s ongoing commitment (2021-2024)
Viva! continued its investigative prowess in 2021, exposing cruelty in rainbow trout farms, launching the Save a Baby campaign and unveiling shocking conditions in Red Tractor-assured farms. The organisation expanded its reach with celebrity endorsements and a week of action during COP26.
In 2022, Viva! reached a crowdfunding target for the Takeaway the Meat TV ad and released impactful documentaries. Our commitment to activism remained unwavering with campaigns against bird flu, carbon labeling and factory farming. Notably, Viva! celebrated victories in 2023, such as reaching a £40,000 crowdfunding target and gaining media coverage for the Takeaway the Meat TV ad. Not only that, but HOGWOOD – a Modern Horror Story, our documentary, was released on Netflix across the UK and Europe, exposing unprecedented numbers of people to the horrors of British pig farming.
2022 also saw Juliet fly to the Polish border to work with Viva! Poland to help rescue and care for animals heartbreakingly affected by the war on Ukraine. Again, thank you for the unprecedented levels of support that we received from donations and people willing to volunteer to help us with this!
In 2023, Viva!’s Killer Yoghurts ad was seen by more than 3.5 million people and while eventually banned by the ASA, we received phenomenal levels of coverage from media outlets including the New York Post, the Daily Mail and Juliet appeared on Uncensored, Piers Morgan’s show, to do battle with the man himself.
Juliet, along with patron Wendy Turner-Webster, visited Tafarn Y Bugail dairy farm, near Cardigan, and recorded footage for Viva!’s Why you don’t need dairy film.
In October, Viva! released its second cookbook, Everyone Can Cook Vegan, containing 100 inspiring recipes aimed at all levels of cooking abilities.
We also received several plaudits, including being named as a finalist in the Best Environment Cause Campaign category in 2023’s Purpose Awards, as well as winning silver, at the CIPR awards for the initiative carbon on menus.
Finally, it wouldn’t be Viva! Without exposing some high-profile undercover investigations and that’s exactly what we did. While it’s notoriously difficult to secure coverage for fish, our salmon investigation made waves when it appeared in The Guardian, which ran the investigation and told people the realities of parasites infesting fish reared for UK supermarkets.
And an undercover investigation by Viva! Campaigns exposed multiple incidents of animal cruelty at a dairy farm in Kent that supplies cow’s milk to Freshways – “the UK’s largest independent processing dairy”. Freshways customers include Costa Coffee, Caffè Nero, Budgens, Iceland, Nisa, Londis and British Airways. The investigation broke in The Independent and revealed cruel animal abuse.
It’s crazy to think that this is a summary and has barely scratched the surface of what Viva! has achieved in thirty years.
Looking forwards, Viva! continues to be a beacon of change, impacting policy, raising awareness, and inspiring individuals to make compassionate choices for animals, the environment and personal wellbeing. As we reflect on the past 30 years, the legacy of Viva! is not just a testament to its accomplishments but a promise of continued dedication to a more compassionate and sustainable future!
Thank you to everyone that has been part of our journey so far, we can’t wait to work towards the next thirty with you!
