Be Fair Be Vegan - Melbourne
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Be Fair Be Vegan
March 2018

Melbourne is poised to become the host for the one of the largest animal rights initiatives ever. On Jan 15th, despite considerable censorship, BeFairBeVegan began rolling out an ambitious campaign to bring the animal equality message in front of the public like never before.

For a total of eight weeks, during Melbourne’s busiest visitor season, BeFairBeVegan will use the outdoor advertising space as a platform for social change, challenging outlooks and attitudes with the help of large format outdoor billboards, mobile panels, targeted posters and content across social media platforms.

The message? We All Value Our Lives. Different But Equal. Unlearn Speciesism. Be Fair Be Vegan.

Long-time animal rescuer and Melbourne resident Patty Mark praised the campaign, saying “it is time these animals were seen in a new light, as sentient beings deserving of our consideration and protection. I hope that these ads will help to change the way we perceive our responsibility as supporters of this abysmal industry.”

In August of 2016, BeFairBeVegan created a stir in the animal advocacy world, by releasing a powerful series of uncompromisingly vegan advertisements throughout New York City, including a stunning moving billboard in the middle of Times Square, one of the highest profile locations in the world.

The provocative message elicited responses from celebrities such as actor and Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix, who praised the campaign in AlterNet: “In addressing our speciesist attitudes toward other animals, BeFairBeVegan encourages us to consider that our core similarities are far deeper than our surface differences. Now, more than ever, the world needs to hear this message.”

With the help of a collective of activists, the campaign has since gone live in Tasmania, Connecticut and Cleveland, and is set to expand to multiple other locations around the world. Melbourne is its most elaborate project to date, with a diverse range of ads expected to be seen by over 2.5 million people.

Combining striking visuals with surprisingly simple, honest observations, BeFairBeVegan challenges viewers to examine our own prejudices, inviting us to see what is both unexpected and obvious. The faces looking out from these billboards dare us to acknowledge what we usually choose to ignore: the inner lives of the animals we subjugate through our consumer choices, despite the immeasurable anguish we cause, and despite the increasing evidence that doing so is unnecessary.

As stated by Joanna Lucas, the campaign’s creator: “Our use of products extracted from the bodies of others is not about necessity, but about fulfilling desires as trivial as taste, habit, profit, or convenience. At a deeper level, it seems to be more about the daily affirmation of our delusion of supremacy."

Campaign Spokesperson Angel Flinn explains: “With all our sincere discussion and concern for the rights of oppressed groups of humans, not one is dominated and tyrannized to a degree that even compares with the way we persecute our nonhuman brethren, who are ignored and ridiculed as much by the progressive left as by the conservative right.”

BeFairBeVegan aims to help people recognize that the victims of our bigotry are complex individuals who are not willing participants in this situation. We reduce them to consumable goods, and as a result, they end their lives in bewilderment and terror at our hands, whether in free-range/cage-free/organic facilities, in the dairy, egg, and wool industries, or in all other branches of the animal trade.

If you wish to help with the Be Fair Be Vegan campaign, your contribution will be gratefully received. Thank You!

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