CAMPAIGN ONE | LONDON 23’
OUR LAUNCH CAMPAIGN WENT LIVE IN LONDON, JULY 2023.
The A/W 23’ Campaign focuses on the dairy industry, and challenges the public with thought-provoking imagery of a female human attached to an automated milking machine in a dairy factory farm.
It raises the question ‘Would it be ok to enslave, torture, and ultimately murder, female human beings simply for the breastmilk they can produce? And if not, then why is it ok to subject millions of female cows per year to constant, forcible impregnation their entire lives, when they also experience pain and suffering, in a similar manner that humans do?’. Speciesism then becomes part of the deeper conversation, which in our view is the root of the problem.
We cannot ignore the fact that dairy cows are ultimately killed for their meat. While it may come as a shock to some, it is crucial to understand their entire life cycle in order to make informed and compassionate choices to end all forms of animal cruelty. Around 2.6 million cows are used for their milk every year in the UK.
Dairy cows endure a cycle of constant impregnation to ensure a steady milk supply. They are constantly impregnated through forceful insemination. In human terms, this is called R*PE. This process involves inserting semen collected from a bull into a cow's uterus using manual or mechanical methods, allowing fertilisation to occur. This constant impregnation is not a natural process for cows, just like it isn’t for female humans. In their natural state, cows would only reproduce when conditions are optimal and they are in estrus (heat).This process is repeated every 12 to 14 months, to maintain a continuous cycle of pregnancy and milk production solely for human consumption.
After giving birth, their calves are stolen from them, causing immense emotional distress for both the mother and her offspring. Daughters are prepared to become dairy cows, sons are sold off to be slaughtered for their body parts. According to a 2020 report, every year in the UK an estimated 60,000 male calves – approximately 15% of all male calves born in the dairy industry – were shot on-farm. The mother cow's milk, originally intended for her calf, is instead harvested for human consumption. When dairy cows reach an age where their milk production declines, they are deemed worthless in the dairy industry. At this point, they are commonly sent to slaughterhouses, where they are murdered to be turned into meat products. This fate awaits millions of dairy cows every year and often unknown by consumers.
It would be morally unacceptable to subject a female human to constant forced impregnation, exploiting her reproductive capabilities. The principles of equality and respect for autonomy that are applied in ethical considerations to humans, should be extended to all sentient beings.
We hope that this will serve as a great opportunity to educate the general public, and provoke them into thinking about how their choices as consumers are inflicting suffering onto non-human beings in factory farms, which we can all agree would be unacceptable if happening to humans. If the public can learn about speciesism through the campaigns, and acknowledge that non-humans feel pain and suffering just like humans do, then that's a step in the right direction.
SHOREDITCH | LONDON
PUTNEY | LONDON
HACKNEY | LONDON