Brock Press

Issue date: 2/2/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Erika Hughes

NAfA, a registered charity staffed by volunteers, has made it their mission to reach out and educate the Niagara community on the rights of animals. The organization is run entirely on fundraising and relies heavily on community outreach.
The latest project being put on by NAfA (Niagara Action for Animals) involves advertisements that promote becoming a vegan. The advertisement reads; "Why do you love one but eat the other? Choose compassion. Go Vegan". The slogan is placed over a picture of a puppy and a piglet. In addition to the puppy and piglet, there's another ad with a kitten and a chick, and a third with a dog and a calf.
The ads were designed by Mercy for Animals; a non-profit agency focused on the protection of animals, who granted NAfA permission to use them to put on three St. Catharines city buses. However, through the use of its veto clause, the St. Catharines Transit Commission has chosen not to display the ads.
"[The ads] are meant to challenge people and getting them to think about the similarities between the animals we call companion animals, or pets, and those we use for food. It's getting people to think critically about issues," said Kimberly Costello, a PhD student at Brock and a member of NAfA, to reporters.
The aim of the ad was to make people think, according to NAfA, and there are no offensive images or language included. Subway cars in Toronto displayed the ad last year, possibly suggesting it's just the St. Catharines Transit Commission that sees a problem with the ads.
The advertising on the St. Catharines city buses is contracted out and handled by Street Seen, an advertising company based in Brantford.
David Sherlock, the general manager of the transit commission explained to reporters that "advertisers pay [Street Seen] to put advertisements on buses throughout Ontario. In the contract we have with them, there is a veto clause; any content that could be deemed controversial, we have the right to veto."
However, only ads that Street Seen deem as being controversial are sent to the commission for approval, where Sherlock would get the ultimate decision of whether an ad will run or not. A confidential transit meeting held on Jan. 21 allowed all commissioners to vote on the issue, which resulted in the original decision to ban the ads.

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