Shropshire councillor demands that Veganuary bus adverts should be removed
A bus company has been criticised for displaying vegan adverts on vehicles in Shropshire, which relies heavily on agriculture.
Shropshire Council’s deputy leader Steve Charmley, councillor for Whittington has hit out at Arriva for displaying an advert on the back of some buses, with a message about turning vegan for January.
Councillor Charmley took to social media to lash out at the bus company, and demand a meeting with the business.
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He posted on Twitter: “Whilst I don’t object to anyone choosing what they eat and when they eat it. I really object to arriva buses running Veganuary adverts in Shropshire, a great County built on Agriculture! I am asking to meet with Arriva to discuss. I hope @NFUShrops does the same. #vegansneedfacts.”
After the tweet, he explained his comments, and said he understands that the company has to raise advertising revenue, but said this isn’t the way.
He also said a link on the advert went to information online about an evangelical person in the US, who was saying issues regarding meat are immoral.
Councillor Charmley said: “It was brought to attention by my son who works in farming, and I am someone who was in farming too.
“There have been a couple of buses seen in Shrewsbury, but this is a county that relies heavily on agriculture.
“We want to promote farming in the county and that is why I have asked for a meeting about Arriva on this.
“It is rammed down people’s throats, but I don’t object to people choosing what they want to eat.
“I appreciate they have commercial revenue from this, but this is an industry that brings a lot of income into Shropshire.”
A spokeswoman for Arriva said: “Advertising on our buses is managed by a third party company, which works with us to ensure the messages we display on-board our fleet do not cause offence to our passengers or the general public.
“We take all complaints and customer feedback seriously and we are working with the third party to investigate.”
