This 4-page leaflet explores the problem with dairy from the slaughter of male calves to the rise of 'zero grazing' systems.
Terror on Our Tables is a public awareness campaign that takes aim at the farming industry’s misinformation and lies. Our biggest campaign to date, it has so far reached tens of millions of people across the UK with a simple message: the terror on our tables is far from the story we’re fed.
For the campaign’s launch in early 2025, we turned our attention to dairy.
One of the most insidious ways to exploit animals over and over, the dairy industry is rife with animal abuse and violations.
What is the dairy industry hiding from us?
What is Animal Aid doing?
A big part of Terror on Our Tables was getting our campaign on TV – something that had never been done before!
The concept began with the word “voiceless” and how many people perceive animals as being unable to speak. Of course, that isn’t true – anyone who’s witnessed a dairy calf be forcibly removed from their mother, so that her milk can be taken for human consumption instead, will know that these sensitive, gentle animals do indeed have voices. They don’t need us to speak for them; we need to listen. And so, our advert confronted viewers with a simple question: “would you listen?”
Our advert aired on Channel 4, More 4 and across thousands of Sky TV channels, including Animal Planet, National Geographic, Sky Sports and more, reaching 14 million viewers.
Following its success on TV, our advert then headed into cinemas around the UK – another first for the animal rights movement! The striking monochrome visuals and near-silent audio was designed to stand out from the colour and chaos of other adverts and trailers, forcing audiences to stop, look and listen.
For six weeks, our advert was shown in major cinemas like Cineworld, Odeon, Everyman and Vue as well as independent screens, reaching more than 1.2 million cinemagoers in total.
To accompany our television ad, we produced a visual tour of life from a dairy cow’s perspective – visit the site here – and a series of striking billboards, which popped up across the UK as well as notable London sites from King’s Cross to London Bridge.
Attitudes towards dairy production are generally more favourable than meat production because of the assumption that cows don’t die to produce milk. Our billboards challenged that assumption by featuring an animated ‘counter’ that tallied a shocking statistic: 107,329 male calves killed in slaughterhouses less than one month old (2020-2022), simply because they cannot produce milk for the dairy industry.
The billboard artwork was viewed more than 2.5 million times in total.
We further challenged the dairy industry with segments on the radio and in the press – with titles like The Guardian, Farming Life and Big Issue helping our campaign reach a further 2 million people – as well as sending out 272 FREE action packs as part of our Week of Action and hosting a peaceful demo in central London.
Terror on Our Tables calls into question the fairytale façade of animal farming; of idyllic, rolling green fields and animals willingly exchanging their flesh or bodily fluids for their lives. But the truth is that animals cannot consent to the systemic suffering that is inherent to dairy – and indeed all forms of animal farming.
The only way to truly respect animals is to leave them off your plate altogether.
Take action for dairy cows
Dairy is an insidious industry that deliberately hides the truth from consumers.
