Vegan charity ad showing blood and offal yoghurt banned by ASA

A voiceover says: “New from Killer yoghurts—the umbilical cord flavour. Produced with only the finest ingredients—the stolen milk of grieving mothers.

“Taste the torment in every mouthful. Blended with brutality. Be complicit, with Killer yoghurt.”

The action then cuts to scenes from an indoor dairy farming shed.

In response, Viva! said viewers would understand the blood was not real and the intention was to expose aspects of the dairy industry consumers did not see and highlight the hypocrisy of companies claiming high welfare standards on farms.

Viva! said it had paid for advertising on Meta platforms and YouTube and had targeted over-18s. It said it was not aware ads on YouTube could appear on other sites and apps.

The ads were placed on Duolingo and Poki Games by Google, which said it was the advertiser’s responsibility to abide by applicable laws and regulations. But it also said the ad was in breach of its policies and it had taken steps to prevent it serving again. Facebook did not have any comment.

The ASA said the ad breached the CAP Code and was “likely to be seen as frightening and distressing to children”.

“Although we acknowledged people would understand the ad was intended as a comment on animal welfare, we considered the graphic and gory imagery was likely to shock and cause a sense of disgust,” it said.