Day-old chicks are packed into crates at an industrial hatchery. During transport to farms, they are often unprotected from heat and cold. Poland, 2019. Konrad Lozinski / HIDDEN / We Animals Media
It's Veganuary! How to Effectively Communicate Veganism & Animal Rights This January
Veganuary is here - the international campaign that encourages individuals to "Try Vegan" for the month of January.
With the support of celebrities, professional athletes, high-calibre chefs, empowering marketing materials and a plethora of resources, Veganuary has allowed the concept of veganism to enter the mainstream.
So how do we effectively communicate veganism and animal rights this month? As a photojournalism agency, we firmly believe that high-quality, high-impact visuals are the key to talking about veganism to new audiences.
As animal photojournalism experts, we've compiled our top picks of visuals for you to use to inform you audience about veganism and animal rights. These visuals are ideal for campaigns, email newsletters, blog posts, social media, however you communicate to your audience. We'll tell you how to best use them, and of course, where you can download these images for free (hint: it's the We Animals Media Stock site)
Bring The Audience In
For any campaign, blog post, or social media carousel, you need a visual to captivate your audience.
Think back on campaigns that have impacted you - that have moved you to question your behavior, moved you to action, or to donate. Without fail the strongest campaigns use gripping images to motivate their audiences and convey their main point. The picture you choose will depend primarily on your audience, how you want to motivate them and what you want to express to them.
Farmed animals are hidden from our view in factory farms, slaughterhouses, and transport trucks. For this reason, eye contact is profoundly impactful. The images below allow the viewer to meet the individual behind the lens - perhaps for the first time - and connect in a way they may never have before
A pig looks out from a transport truck after reaching her final destination. Canada, 2018. Louise Jorgensen / HIDDEN / We Animals Media.
A calf chained to a veal crate throughout the cold winter. Quebec, Canada, 2014. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
A sheep looks up from within a milking stall at a sheep dairy farm. The sheep are locked into the stalls with neck restraints while they are being milked. Czechia, 2019. Lukas Vincour / Zvířata Nejíme / We Animals Media
Two and seven day-olseven-day-old broiler chickens at an industrial farm in Mexico. Broiler chickens are bred to grow at unnaturally rapid rates and are slaughtered at five to six weeks of age. This shed, one of many on the property, contained tens of thousands of birds. Mexico, 2018. Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality / We Animals Media
Talk About The “Why”
Why should people try veganism this January? Here is an excellent opportunity to talk about factory farming or the consequences of animal agriculture on our climate stability. What’s the best way to talk about factory farming to a new audience?
A tip from Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals Media founder: show scope, but also show the individuals.
Night view of a broiler chicken factory farm: three floors in every building, thousands of chickens on each floor. A lifetime here is barely six weeks. Italy, 2015. Francesco Pistilli / HIDDEN / We Animals Media
As far as the eye can see. Thousands of chickens are packed into a broiler hall complex. Finland, 2017. Juho Kerola / HIDDEN / We Animals Media
Where there is trawl fishing, there is by-catch. Detail of fish and a sting ray after being emptied from nets onto the deck. Extensive aquaculture and commercial fishing industries pose great threats to marine life and ocean health. Greece, 2020. Selene Magnolia / We Animals Media
Just six weeks old, but already this broiler chicken has put on too much weight to be able to stand. To maximize profit, chickens are purposefully bred to grow and gain weight at an accelerated rate, causing immense suffering. Poland, 2019.
The unseen story of wild-caught fish who become trapped in the fishing industry is one of extended torture.
These fish suffer slow deaths defined by nets, asphyxiation, ice, and blood. Whether they are the intended targets for a vessel’s trawling nets, or just ‘disposable’ bycatch species caught in the fray, once these animals are extracted from their ocean home and hit a vessel’s deck, they are en route to the same fate. Greece, 2020. Selene Magnolia / We Animals Media
And Animal Products?
It may be obvious to you why animal by-products (milk, cheese, eggs, honey) should be avoided, but assume your audience does not know why. Find a visual that best encapsulates those industries.
A typical egg-laying farm. Most laying hens are housed in battery cages containing up to five birds per cage. Bodies of dead hens are discarded either in between the cage rows or amidst the piles of urine and feces below the cages. Workers feeding the hens or collecting the eggs wear face coverings to avoid inhaling the toxic dust and ammonia in the air. Taiwan, 2019.
Thousands of eggs are neatly lined up in plastic packing trays at an egg factory and sorting facility. Czechia, 2021. Lukas Vincour / Zvířata Nejíme / We Animals Media
Dozens of cows live inside a concrete-floored indoor enclosure on a dairy farm in Turkiye. The cows on this farm spend their entire days indoors, confined in pens without bedding. The concrete floor of this pen is slick with feces and urine. Turkiye, 2022. Havva Zorlu / We Animals Media
A small, family-run dairy farm. The nine dairy cows living at this farm in Bern, Switzerland, are tethered and stand in the same place with their tails tied up for most of the year. There is barely enough room for the larger animals to lie down, and they get sores on their legs from lying on the concrete floor. Bern, Switzerland, 2022. Sabina Diethelm / We Animals Media
Dual rows of female sheep stand inside the stalls of a milking parlour on a sheep dairy farm. The sheep have dirty-looking coats painted red with identifying numbers and other markings. Czechia, 2019. Lukas Vincour / We Animals Media
Don’t Forget the Taste Buds!
As we know, the world of plant-based food is bursting with flavour and innovation. Why not show your audience what the #FutureofFood looks like?
Miyoko Schinner, the founder of Miyoko's Creamery, creates a buttery tofu and vegetable recipe in the test kitchen at their headquarters. California, USA, 2021. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Racks of plant-based cheese at Miyoko's Creamery. California, USA, 2021. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Wildtype is a food company based in the United States that is pioneering efforts in creating cellular-based salmon. As part of We Animals Media's series about the future of food, photographer Jo-Anne McArthur spent a morning photographing Wildtype's product in the capable hands of a Michelin star chef.
Wildtype's website states: "Demand for seafood and other animal protein has never been greater, while wild sources continue to dwindle...With so much new demand on our food supply, we need to create new tools to sustainably meet the environmental and food security challenges of our 21st century. This is the promise of cellular agriculture. California, USA, 2021. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Gwenna Hunter packs fresh local produce into bags at a vegan aid program in Los Angeles with Vegan Outreach. Each vegan aid program day they distribute roughly 100 free groceries and hot vegan meals to local communities impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. California, USA, 2021. Nikki Ritcher / #unboundproject / We Animals Media
It’s All About the Animals
At its core, veganism is about compassion. Animals used for food are rarely in the public consciousness. This needs to change. Here is a great opportunity to showcase how playful and intelligent pigs are, the fearful eye of a cow on its way to slaughter, or the injustice of pigs living in stifling conditions.
In many countries, gestation crates are the cages that impregnated adult female pigs, also called sows, are kept in for all but the last five to ten days of their pregnancies. For the nearly four months of their gestation, they live inside a cage that is just larger than the size of their bodies, roughly two by seven feet. They can lie down, sit, and stand but cannot turn around, walk, avoid aggression from sows in neighbouring stalls, or respond to changes in the environmental temperature. Millions of pigs live in these extremely constricted spaces every day. Quebec, Canada, 2022. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
That's one happy pig! At Thanksgiving, Farm Sanctuary hosts a weekend in celebration of the animals. Delighted visitors gather around and watch rescued turkeys feast on fresh vegetables and pies, and the pigs get an excess of pumpkins to eat. New York, 2015. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Good luck with your #Veganuary campaigns! As always, our We Animals Media stock platform offers high-quality visuals to support your animal advocacy efforts, at no cost for non-commercial use.
Bérénice, a sanctuary volunteer feeds some greenery to and Benji the shy goat at GroinGroin refuge. France, 2022. Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Skilled relationship builder and communicator. English language arts educator with background in public relations. Personal and professional endeavours centre around kindness, compassion and service.
Skilled relationship builder and communicator. English language arts educator with background in public relations. Personal and professional endeavours centre around kindness, compassion and service.
1yPowerful! Thank you for sharing!