Media Release

4th March 2008

New teen campaign aims to open young eyes to the suffering of farmed animals

A NEW youth campaign aimed at informing young people about the cruelty of factory farming is being launched this week, by leading campaigning vegetarian group Viva!

So Cute is calling on teens across the country to think again about eating animals ? and the emotive message is being spread by young veggie activists nationwide.

Thousands of leaflets featuring a baby calf on a plate, posing the question ?I?m so cute?Do you want to eat me?? will be distributed.

Viva! Activists in many towns and cities are taking the ?go veggie? message to their schools, libraries, town centres and pretty much everywhere they can get access!

Recent media coverage has opened the nation?s eyes to the conditions most British farmed animals endure before they are slaughtered for meat. Viva! Activists are planning to show their friends, schoolmates and the world, the facts about modern farming. They will be giving practical advice on how to save animals and go veggie.

Bring Me The Horizon drummer, Matt Nicholls says: ?Factory farming is about profit, they don?t care about the animals. What they put animals through is disgusting. They don?t even stop to consider that they are slaughtering millions of animals. All over the world, people are catching onto vegetarianism. The internet makes it easier for people to access information and watch videos to educate themselves.?

The new campaign is set to target self-titled animal lovers who eat meat. So Cute aims to show that the animal on your plate is no different to the animal you share your house with.

Viva! Activist Rosie, 17, from Fife says: ?There are adverts on the TV about dogs and cats being mistreated or killed, but slaughtering pigs and sheep is ignored. I don?t see why it?s any different and I think it?s na?ve to separate them as two different kinds of animal; feeling and non-feeling.?

Viva! will be offering free So Cute ? Go Veggie packs featuring advice on how to become vegetarian, competitions and ways to get involved in the campaign!

The average person eats 11,047 animals in a lifetime, so the younger people go veggie ? the more animals they save!

A new website dedicated to Viva! Activists, which will include information about So Cute, is due to be launched in the near future.

For further information and photographs please contact Fiona Galbraith at Viva! T: 0117 944 1000 E: fiona@viva.org.uk W: www.viva.org.uk

ENDS

For more information about the So Cute campaign, or to be emailed a PDF file of the leaflet, contact Fiona Galbraith or press officer Helen Rossiter on 0117 944 1000 or email press@viva.org.uk