A group of creative industry experts have come together to produce the first ever cross-industry marketing campaign for Meat Free Monday, to help people tackle climate change at an individual level.
The tongue-in-cheek campaign aims to help drive wider participation in Meat Free Monday by reminding everyone that there is a simple and accessible way to lead greener and healthier lives. It is timed with the recent launch of our new website which highlights simple plant-based recipes as well as a calculator with data from The Darwin Challenge which, using simple inputs, works out the positive impact on the environment that an individual or household can have.
‘The easiest way to help save the world’ campaign is set against the backdrop of the global pandemic and climate emergency, which is driving the need and desire among people to embrace more sustainable and healthy lifestyles. Research from Kantar shows that this desire does not always translate into action, because people find it hard to make changes on a day-to-day basis.
Appearing across digital channels, media publications and amplified by celebrity influencers and partners, the campaign is created by Zoe Howorth, Lucy Taylor, Tara Macleod and the ‘Common Glory’ team of Charlie Lindsay and George Bartlett. It is supported by Knorr Unilever, Papa John’s, Kantar UK and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA).
Commenting on the campaign, Paul McCartney said: “We have a climate emergency on our hands, and we all want to make a difference. But it’s often hard to know where to start. It’s been a tough year, with lots of sadness, anxiety and uncertainty. But as we look ahead to things getting back to normal, now is a good time to plan for a greener, more sustainable future. Eating plant based can make a big difference. Why not start with a Meat Free Monday and take it from there?”
Heading up Common Glory, Charlie Lindsay and George Bartlett said: “Saving the planet can seem like a pretty daunting task. But small (and tasty) changes like this make a huge difference. With some tongue-in-cheek humour, we wanted to give people an easier way to show their world some lovin’.”
By adopting one meat free day every week for a year, an individual can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an equivalent of a car trip from London to Edinburgh. In addition, compared to someone who eats 100g of processed red meat per day, someone who does not eat any processed red meat could extend their life by 46.15 minutes per meat free day.
If the entire population of the UK went meat free one day a week for a year, collectively we would:
- Save an area of the world’s forest the size of all the national parks in England and Wales combined (16,689 km2)
- Save the same amount of greenhouse gases as emitted by driving 20 billion km –134 times the distance to the Sun
- Effectively create a marine reserve twice the size of Wales (41,613 km2)
Find out more about the new campaign and help spread the word