‘FANATICAL and absurd’ is how Independent TD Michael Collins described a series of advertising posters on Dublin Bus which claims that animal agriculture is the largest contributor to Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The TD accused Dublin Bus of ‘enabling the trashing of Irish agriculture for paltry advertising revenue,’ and he called on the management of the company to immediately remove what he has described as ‘highly misleading and toxic advertising posters.’
The posters – which have a sub-title of ‘veganism is the solution’ – were described by the TD as ‘absurd and context free.’
He claimed the poster promotes ‘a highly damaging narrative that completely neglects to present the overwhelming environmental benefits that Irish farmers and Irish agriculture bring to the cultivation and preservation of our land.’
Deputy Collins said they also neglect to acknowledge the levels of carbon sequestration that naturally occur on farmland and forestry. The West Cork TD said he will be asking the minister for agriculture to directly intervene because there is ‘a massive conflict of interest between Dublin Bus and Bord Bia, both of which are under his departmental remit. Millions are spent each year promoting the positive environmental good and economic benefits of Irish agriculture,’ he said, ‘but this is a flagrant contradiction of that message.
‘We cannot,’ he added, ‘have the good work that Bord Bia and the various agri-sectors do, in terms of promotion, undermined by a series of nonsensical posters on Dublin Bus that demonise an entire way of life for a few paltry euro in advertising.’
A spokesperson for the CIÉ group of companies – which includes Bus Eireann, Dublin Bus, and Irish Rail – said Exterion Media manage and operate its ad formats and that its advertising and marketing communication is subject to guidelines as set out in the ‘Code of Standards for Advertising and Marketing Communications in Ireland.’
This week the ICSA president Dermot Kelleher called on all landowners to block any more adverts from Go Vegan World on billboards on their land. ‘Farmers are really annoyed at the diesel-powered Dublin buses advertising campaign against Irish farming, being run by the Go Vegan World group,’ he said.
