BBC ‘I love vegans’ Christmas Advert Criticised By British farmers

The farmers union claims the latest BBC Christmas advert is an example of a perceived bias against livestock farmers and rural communities.

According to The Telegraph, vice president of the National Farmers Union (NFU) has said: "We are deeply concerned that the BBC appears to have started campaigning for a vegan diet in advertising for its Christmas programming, none of which appears to cover veganism in its schedule”.  

"It doesn't appear to sit within the BBC's editorial guidelines, which clearly states that they shouldn’t be a campaigning organization, and this advert takes our concerns about the BBC's impartiality in its coverage of meat issues a step further", he added.

The BBC denied that the advert is promoting veganism.

 A spokesperson for the BBC has commented:  "The cartoon turkeys in 'Go Vegan!' t-shirts are intended to be comedic and playful in keeping with the slightly surreal, exuberant spirit of the film, rather than any kind of endorsement or encouragement of a vegan lifestyle". 

The Christmas advert features some vegan elements: a yoga teacher saying “we don’t have to eat rabbit food for breakfast any more”, a family carving a nut roast. It also shows animated turkeys  wearing proclaiming "I love vegans" and celebrating meat-free Christmas and a map of the UK with meatless dinners pictures from social media.

Stuart Roberts said: “We will be complaining at the highest level about this and other recent examples of what we perceive to be BBC bias in this area.”