The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has criticised a
new marketing campaign for vegan food brand Oatly for what it
called a ‘serious misuse of statistics’.
In the new adverts for the oat-based drink, a man is criticised
by his son for drinking cow’s milk. Oatly posted a tweet
including the advert saying ‘the dairy and meat industries emit
more CO2e than all the world’s planes, trains, cars boats etc
combined’.
But Government figures show that emissions from UK agriculture
stand at 9% the total – with just 3.7% coming from cattle and
sheep - compared to 27% from transport.
Mark Bridgeman, President of the CLA which represents
30,000 rural businesses across England and Wales, said:
“We have no problem with oat drinks – and encourage manufacturers
to support British farmers. But we do have a problem with
peddling misinformation and half-truths.
“Emissions from British beef, for example, are 50% lower than the
global average. Just 3.7% of the UK’s emissions come from cattle
and sheep, a fraction that of the transport sector. So telling
British consumers that their dairy and meat industries are
somehow more damaging to the environment than transport is a
serious misuse of statistics.
“Pitching people against one another is deeply unhelpful. Farmers
and food brands need to work together to improve sustainability,
and Oatly really should know the lengths that British farmers are
going to in order to drive their emissions down further still.
“There is a place for oat drinks on the market, but Oatly should
concentrate on convincing consumers of the quality of their
product rather than simply trying to put down the competition.”
