Viva! is a British

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

group, which focuses on promoting

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

. It was founded by

Juliet Gellatley Juliet Gellatley is a British writer and animal rights activist. She is the founder and director of Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals, Viva! and a former director of the Vegetarian Society. She is also a founding director of The Veget ...

in 1994. Viva! carries out undercover investigations to expose the abuse of factory farmed animals and produces information on how to go vegan, including recipes and shopping guides. It is a registered charity.

Overview

Viva! is an animal rights' campaigning organisation, working on issues such as factory farming and slaughter and is based in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, with a branch office in Poland. Campaigns include End Factory Farming, Eat Green, Foie-Gras free Britain, Exotic Meat, Ban the Farrowing Crate, Dark Side of Dairy and youth campaigns including The Big Coverup. 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.

Events

Following on from its success with the former biannual national "Incredible Vegan Roadshow" in London, Viva! now organises six annual festivals across the UK designed to help people become vegetarian or vegan. These are: Bristol Viva! Vegan Festival, Cardiff Viva! Vegan Festival, Swansea Viva! Vegan Festival, Stockport Viva! Vegan Festival, Birmingham Viva! Vegan Festival and Coventry Viva! Vegan Festival. Viva! also do a number of outreach events each year to raise awareness and support of its current campaigns.

Celebrity endorsement

Viva! enjoys the patronage of numerous entertainers, including

Martin Shaw Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He came to national recognition as Doyle in ITV (TV network), ITV crime-action television drama series ''The Professionals (TV series), The Professionals'' (1977–1983). Further notable ...

Heather Mills Heather Anne Mills (born 12 January 1968) is an English former model, businesswoman and activist. Mills first came to public attention in 1993 when she was a model and was involved in a traffic collision with a police motorcycle in London. T ...

Michael Mansfield QC Michael Mansfield (born 12 October 1941) is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as "The king of human rights work" by The Legal 500 and as a Leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights ...

Jerome Flynn Jerome Patrick Flynn (born 16 March 1963) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his roles as Paddy Garvey of the King's Fusiliers in the ITV series ''Soldier Soldier'', Bronn in the hit HBO series '' Game of Thrones'', and Benn ...

Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

In the press

In 2009, Viva! criticised supermarket chain

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

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 2012, Viva! stated that it favoured the development of

cultured meat Cultured meat (also known by other names) is meat produced by culturing animal cells ''in vitro''. It is a form of cellular agriculture. Cultured meat is produced using tissue engineering techniques pioneered in regenerative medicine. Jason Ma ...

. "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

External links