Groundbreaking Anti-Meat Ad Airs During Eurovision 2022

This new anti-meat ad serves one hell of a wake-up call – well done.

The “Hell of a Steak” advert, which was created by the group Vegan Friendly and aired in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers during the Eurovision Song Contest, poses the question, if you knew the true cost of eating meat, would you still do it? After being showered – figuratively and literally – with facts about the environmental footprint of the meat industry, the diners in the video decided to skip the cruel, unsustainable dish.

What’s Really at Steak?

The meat industry has a catastrophic impact on the planet. As the ad points out, animal agriculture burns through resources: it takes an area larger than Wembley Stadium and 3,636,872 litres of water to produce 8,165 kilos of feed and hay – enough to feed a single cow. “As if world hunger doesn’t exist,” the waiter snaps.

The amount of waste and pollution generated by animal agriculture is just as alarming. The United Nations states that animal agriculture is a major contributor to water pollution. Runoff from animal farming contaminates rivers with pathogens and waste, methane gases from cows accelerate climate change, and in the UK, lethal toxins like ammonia gas are released into the air, which can threaten human life.

It’s not just the planet that pays the price for meat consumption – our fellow animals do, too. Cows, pigs, chickens, and others who are raised and killed for food often spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy conditions, denied the opportunity to raise their young, breathe fresh air, roll around in the mud, build nests, or do anything else that is natural to them.