By Coral Ricote | Campaign Coach
A new year has begun and we continue working for the animals. As you might remember, the focus of last summer’s tour was the campaign “99 miljoner” (99 million) about the chicken industry in Sweden. We talked with thousands of people and showed them the sad reality that these animals face every day.
Reveling myths about the chicken industry
Even if the tour finished in September, we kept working on this campaign during autumn and tried new ways to reach people and raise awareness. During two weeks in November the campaign was announced in the main Swedish train stations where millions of people walk through daily in their way to work, school or simply travelling. The banners were big and visible in strategic spots showing real pictures of the life of chickens in the meat industry, together with different slogans questioning the most common myths or excuses for eating chicken.
One of these myths is to believe that consuming chicken is sustainable or environmentally friendly, but we ask the question “Sustainable for who?” in return. If we want to contribute and create a positive impact for the environment, the most effective option is choosing a plant-based diet. As you probably know, both dairy and meat industry are between the most contaminating activities in the planet. So, at the end of the day, eating chicken is only sustainable for the meat industry itself. Another example of our slogans is the one saying “locally produced” together with a picture that shows how crowded chickens live. The fact of these chickens growing up in Sweden doesn’t guarantee high welfare standards, but quite the opposite. Up to 25 individuals live tight in 1 squared meter, having no space to move, run or fulfill their needs as animals. Through these banners we want everyone to really understand what Swedish production means and not only what the meat industry wants us to believe.
Present at the main Swedish train stations
While the campaign was announced we arranged events in the three biggest cities in Sweden. During two weekends we were present at Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm’s central train stations talking with hundreds of people about the chickens’ situation. It was quite similar to the tour stops that we organize every summer, but adapting it to the indoor autumn atmosphere. This was the first time we worked with this outreach strategy for the campaign and we wondered what the result would be. It was definitely interesting to put this project into practice during two intense weeks. Now, after reflecting and analyzing it with perspective I can say that it was challenging in different ways. On one hand, we met all kinds of people of different ages, interests, backgrounds… and many of them were busy commuting or just travelling somewhere. But the positive side is that we got to reach a public that otherwise wouldn’t have talked to us and many of them spent a relatively long time at the station waiting for a train to depart or for someone else to arrive. As a result, we had curious visitors at our stand constantly and we handed out thousands of vegan flyers with chicken free recipes.
New year, new summer tour
Leaving an exciting 2019 behind, now it’s time to focus on next summer and prepare this year’s campaign. Some of the tour stops are already booked and quite soon in the spring we will open the volunteer registration. We are looking forward to one more fantastic summer giving animals a voice! Thank you for following and supporting us and feel free to donate to help us make next summer tour become a success.
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