“Hell of a steak”- vegan advert goes viral

An advert highlighting the obvious inefficiency of animal agriculture, in the midst of a climate crisis, has gone viral. Broadcasted in Israel, during the Eurovision Song Contest, it will make its way onto UK televisions this week and is also likely to be shown in the US.

Being the first of its kind, this advert is ground-breaking. With its humorous, yet morbid, depiction of the injustice that prevails in a world where meat consumption continues to be the norm, it is bound to cause some household discomfort. The advert sets the scene with a couple sitting down to enjoy dinner in a restaurant named “Meat Out”. After glancing through the menu, one of the customers asks about the item “Hell of a Steak”, to which the waiter replies with great excitement, “I am glad you asked.”

He then goes into a quick, but elaborate tale of the excessive number of resources that are used to raise just a single cow for their consumption. Whilst the waiter exclaims that they use land around the size of 3 football fields, 800,000 gallons of water and more than 18,000 lbs of feed and hay, the couple are drenched and bombarded with a haystack, before being greeted by a live cow at their dinner table. The cow then passes wind, to which the waiter replies “and don’t get me started on the greenhouse gases.” The look of horror on the couple’s faces, followed by the retort “I don’t wanna know the price” says it all.

The ad was made by the Non-Profit organisation, Vegan Friendly UK, who work to certify plant-based products and promote green lifestyle choices. Their agenda states “We believe that all animals should be treated fairly with love and compassion. We believe that all humans are equals and we all deserve to be treated with respect and equality”.

Whilst “Hell of a steak” has an obvious meaning, being the lavish and outrageous nature of meat consumption. The phrase also alludes to the hellish trajectory of the planet as our polluting and wasteful systems push the biophysical limits out of balance, leading to heatwaves, flooding, drought, wildfires and other climatic plagues.

For most of our history, the vegan mission has been oppressed and deemed an act of extremism, but now it is being firmly recognised by the UN and the IPCC  as an advisory transition for the security of this planet and all its inhabitants. The meat and dairy industry have been promoting their agenda in televised adverts for decades, now it’s our turn.

Article written by Aisling Geraghty- United Kingdom