A Greenpeace educational pack called ‘A better world starts on your plate’ about the impact of dairy products on the environment and climate that was sent out to schools in the Netherlands has been categorised as misleading by the Dutch Advertising Code Committee (RCC). Farmers’ organisation ZLTO and the Agrifacts foundation appealed to the Dutch Advertising Code Committee because they did not agree with the educational pack.
Among other things, the instruction pack claimed that cows contribute more to global warming than cars and that meat production causes hunger. Claims were also made, for example about water consumption for meat production, for which there is no clear scientific basis. It has also been claimed that meat makes people ill and ultimately leads to hunger. The Advertising Code Committee has labelled this as untrue. The information in the educational pack is therefore considered misleading.
‘We have been made aware of this educational pack by several parties,’ said ZLTO Director Kathleen Goense. ‘It is a case of influencing children on the basis of false and incomplete information with the aim of persuading children to consume less meat and dairy products.’
Greenpeace can still appeal the decision, but has since taken the teaching pack offline.
