a network of lobbyists Animal agriculture is wreaking havoc on the environment, according to Greenpeace. Specifically, the meat industry’s efforts to bury sustainability concerns by pouring millions of dollars into marketing.
Greenpeace, which works in over 55 countries, used social media to start a conversation about the issue.
“Care for some lies with that steak?” Greenpeace wrote on Instagram.
“The world of meat marketing is a happy place. It’s dominated by the color green and populated with idyllic farmhouses and free-range animals on lush pastures. However, behind this carefully constructed dream the meat industry is selling us, lies a different reality: from climate change to forest fires to human rights abuses, the global industrial meat industry leaves a trail of destruction all over the world,” the organization wrote.
Myths about meat marketing
Greenpeace Denmark has just released a new study, which coincides with the publication of this article. Major players in the animal meat industry are basing their marketing campaigns on seven “myths,” according to the study.
According to the researchers, these statements inc
• Myth 1: ‘meat is part of the climate solution, not the problem’
• Myth 2: ‘meat is good for you’
• Myth 3: ‘Eating (red) meat makes you more of a man’
• Myth 4: ‘Good women prepare and serve meat to their family’
• Myth 5: ‘Eating meat is a patriotic act’
• Myth 6: ‘Eating meat brings people together’
• Myth 7: ‘Eating meat is about freedom and choice’lude “meat is good for you,” “eating meat brings people together,” “eating meat is about freedom and choice,” and “eating meat is a patriotic act.”
Other false statements used by businesses include: “meat is part of the climate solution, not the problem,” “eating (red) meat makes you more of a man,” and “good women prepare and serve meat to their family.”
According to Greenpeace, these myths frequently target vulnerable groups, such as children, who may not yet have the ability to filter the messages they receive from advertisements appropriately.
Furthermore, such marketing ploys target young adults navigating sexual identity as well as parents attempting to do the right thing for their children.
These strategies aren’t new, either. “The marketing playbook used by the meat industry is no different from the one deployed by the tobacco or alcohol industries in the last decades,” Greenpeace wrote.
“Advertising of tobacco and alcohol has been highly regulated for the well-being of society. Shouldn’t it be about time to also start regulating advertising for the well-being of the whole planet and apply similar restrictions to meat marketing too?”
