The agency is the only company in the country to carry adverts on buses and trains in Ireland

One of Go Vegan World's ads on a London bus (Photo: Supplied)

A major Irish advertising agency has been accused of pro-dairy bias after refusing to place Go Vegan World posters on transport.

Exterion Ireland is the only company that carries ads on buses and trains in Ireland. Go Vegan World has accused the organization of having 'a preferential concern for the Irish dairy industry over the rights of the public to the information in the ads'.

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Go Vegan World is currently running a huge campaign consisting of more than 2,000 ads for Christmas and New Year in Ireland and the UK, with ads on buses, street signs, billboards and in print outlets owned by several advertising companies.

Refusing vegan adverts

Go Vegan World runs a slate of adverts featuring different animals and slogans, including: "Veganism = Recognising Me as Someone, Not Something," and "Dairy Takes Babies from their Mothers".

The aim of the ads is 'to remind people that the animals we eat, wear and use in other ways are capable of physical and psychological feelings and, as a result, we do not have the right to use or kill them'

Exterion Media, the company contracted by Dublin Bus and Irish Rail to sell advertising space on buses and in train stations, refused the advert featuring cows and calves with the statement: "Dairy takes babies from their mothers."

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It has provided two broad reasons for refusing to run the ad, including: "Might adversely affect the interest of the site owner," and "Might result in Exterion Media being in breach of any of its contractual obligations to a site owner."

Pro-dairy?

Go Vegan World Founder and Director, Sandra Higgins, notes that the Irish dairy industry runs large ad campaigns through Exterion Media in Ireland.

"The refusal to carry Go Vegan World ads referring to dairy points to a very unhealthy situation wherein the only company carrying ads for Irish Bus and Rail appear to have a preferential concern for the Irish dairy industry over the right of the public to the facts contained in our ads," Higgins said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.

"This refusal does a disservice to members of the public who have a right to the information contained in our ads."