We’re back on the streets
The campaigns team had a successful demo in Leciester for Flat House Farm. Here’s everything you need to know.
The campaigns team hadn’t been able to perform outreach in person for a long eight months with Covid-19, and as we drove into Leicester we were all itching to get back into one-on-one conversations at long last.
We were armed with leaflets and footage of Flat House Farm, one of our latest investigations which has once again exposed the reality of animal agriculture. In this case it was pigs, and Flat House Farm is located just 12 miles south of Leicester, near Lutterworth.
For so many people, whether in Leicester or around the country, there is this belief that ‘that sort of cruelty doesn’t happen in my area’, or that ‘local pork’ somehow means ethical pork. Our demo was going to show the people of Leicester that was simply not the case.
We had a great turnout
Despite the threatening clouds, we had a fantastic turnout of volunteers, and our demo was in collaboration with Leicester Animal Rights and Leicestershire Animal Save, two brilliant groups who do so much for animals in their local area. We were also joined by Wendy Turner Webster, patron of Viva!, and her team. We thank them for helping to make the event so effective and enjoyable.
We set up in the city centre, positioned to reach as many people as possible with a steady high footfall throughout the day. Our big TV showed our short film on Flat House Farm, and locals were shocked and disgusted by the footage, and surprised and disturbed when they learned just how near such a hellhole was to their home.
We spoke to so many people who had seen the investigations on the news, whether that was through the Daily Mail exclusive or watching it on BBC news, and gave out hundreds of leaflets to the locals.
Helping people start their vegan journey
There were also lots of people interested in learning more about V7, our 7 day vegan meal plan helping people to explore veganism. Three easy, healthy and tasty recipes for every meal of the week makes going vegan so easy!
The event was full of conversations, and it was brilliant to get back into engaging with people face-to-face. But we also had a second prong to our event, with a video van driving around the streets of Leicester for the whole day, showing the Flat House footage to thousands of people with links to find out more on our website.
A day after the event, we had a person get in touch through Twitter. He said that he’d spotted our footage while driving a bus around the town. When he got home, he read up on our investigation and began his vegan journey. In his own words: ‘It’s wrong, it’s cruel and it’s not gonna be on my conscience. Love what Viva! is doing. Top work’.
Spotted our video van on the way out of Leicester. Thanks to everyone that supported our work today 🐷✊https://t.co/dugf1LdbGh pic.twitter.com/sF7bfHk20O
— Viva! (@vivacampaigns) October 24, 2020
It was exactly the reception we wanted, and just one more reminder that so many people are vegan at heart. It’s only the deceit and lies surrounding the reality of animal agriculture that upholds such an industry.
Covid-19 hasn’t stopped us from reaching out to people, whether that’s been in person or digitally. Here’s to a 2021 where we can continue to engage with people in conversation, and help more and more people to go vegan and not look back.
You can find out more about our current End Factory Farming campaign here.
About the author
Will Sorflaten
Will is one of Viva!'s campaigners. Will has been vegan for nearly ten years, and is committed to making the world a kinder, more sustainable place through veganism. Will has a degree in English Literature from Cambridge University, and works on Viva!'s campaigns, focusing in particular on expanding collaboration on university campuses. Click here for more info.
