Viva! (organisation)

Overview

Viva! was founded as Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals, a charity, in 1994.

Viva! is an animal rights' campaigning organisation, working on issues such as factory farming and slaughter and is based in Bristol, with a branch office in Poland. Campaigns have included End Factory Farming, Eat Green, Foie-Gras free Britain, Exotic Meat, Ban the Farrowing Crate, and the Dark Side of Dairy. Campaigns in 2018 included an investigation into Hogwood Pig Farm in Warwickshire, and Scary Dairy's "Trash" campaign, highlighting the dairy industry's forgotten victims: male calves. Viva! includes the organization Viva! Health (formerly The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation), which is dedicated to nutrition and health.

Activism

In 2005, Viva! campaigned against human consumption of cow's milk with an advert featuring a businessman drinking milk straight from a cows udder.

In 2009, Viva! criticised supermarket chain Tesco for turning 5,000 tonnes of meat that had passed its sell-by date into electricity by burning it to avoid wasting the meat. Viva! argued converting out-of-date meat into heat with as byproduct was not environmentally sustainable, but Tesco defended its decision. In 2010, Viva! protested against a branch of Budgens for supporting a "needless cull" of grey squirrels by selling squirrel meat in one of their stores in North London.

In 2012, Viva! stated that it favoured the development of cultured meat. "Certainly, with over 950 million land animals slaughtered in the UK each year, and the vast majority of them factory farmed in awful conditions, anything that saves animals from suffering is to be welcomed," former Viva! spokesman and campaign manager Justin Kerswell said, adding that individuals should make up their own mind on whether or not they would consume it themselves, because 'vegetarianism and veganism aren't religions'.

In 2022, Viva! ran a TV advert which showed a couple ordering pulled pork takeaway from a company called "Just Meat." When the takeaway arrives, it is a live piglet delivered with a meat cleaver.

References

References

1. "Who we are". Viva! Website.
2. (3 August 2020). "Opinion: Only by going vegan can we begin to call time on Britain's factory farm crisis". [[The Independent]].
3. "Viva! at the Charity Commission".
4. (2025). "Governance".
5. Bryan, Hannah. (21 March 2015). "Rockliffe Hall removes foie gras from menu following social media backlash". [[The Northern Echo]].
6. Graham, Rachel. (29 March 2018). "Exotic meats: on the brink of supermarket extinction?".
7. Sales, Dan. (20 March 2007). "Farmer fury over Mills' undercover protest". Bridgwater Mercury.
8. McArthur, Maxine. (17 October 2018). "Vegan activists to march against 'dark side of dairy' in Glasgow city centre". [[Glasgow Times]].
9. "About Viva!". Viva! Website.
10. (2005). "Is Drinking Milk Unnatural?".
11. Murray Wardrop. (6 August 2009). "Tesco criticised by vegetarians for using waste meat to generate electricity". The Daily Telegraph.
12. (2010). "Anger over squirrel meat on sale in north London".
13. Chi Chi Izundu. (23 February 2012). "Could vegetarians eat a 'test tube' burger?". BBC News.
14. Duncan, Grace. "Viva launches 'controversial' TV ad calling on shoppers to ditch meat".