EU citizens fund billboards to expose conflicting messages in bloc’s food policies
A group of European citizens have donated thousands of Euros to protest conflicting messages at the heart of existing EU food policies.
The billboard campaign ‘thismakesnosense.org’, launched by ProVeg International, calls out the EU’s efforts to encourage the public to consume more meat and dairy while simultaneously urging people to reduce their consumption of meat and dairy and transition to a plant-rich diet.
The move comes weeks before the EU launches the publication of its ‘Complete Impact Assessment of Policy Options’ in October, with new billboards and bus posters will appear all over Brussels urging policy makers to acknowledge the disparity and take immediate action.
The campaign took off in tandem with an open letter from 50 NGOs urging the European Commission to cease the promotion of meat and dairy
Review
The October publication is an impact assessment of the EU’s agricultural-promotion policy that “helps its farmers and food industry sell their products in an increasingly competitive global marketplace”.
The review is aimed at enhancing the EU’s “contribution to sustainable production and consumption in line with the shift to a more plant-based diet, with less red and processed meat and more fruit and vegetables”.
“We fear that corporate interests will prevail and determine the outcome. That’s why we want to give European citizens one last chance to say ‘we don’t want our tax money being spent on environmentally damaging advertisements’ – with the message broadcast right where the decision makers work and live,” explained Jasmijn de Boo, Vice President of ProVeg International.