An advert by a vegan charity featuring scenes of a human baby being taken from its mother has been banned.
The advert by vegan charity Viva! featured the scenes to protest against the treatment of dairy calves but it has now been scrapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The watchdog say the advert is irresponsible, distressing and likely to cause widespread offence.
The ASA said the cinema ad, which drew on the conventions of horror films, would have been particularly distressing for viewers who had experienced the loss of a child.
The ad, seen in March and April 2025, featured a mother placing her sleeping baby in a cot while a lullaby played before a silhouetted figure suddenly appeared standing over the infant and the room went dark.
The mother switched on a light to reveal a man in a suit running a bottle of milk across the bars of the cot, which was now empty, before he said: “You can’t keep your baby because we want your milk.”
The next scene showed a calf in a pen and a voiceover stated: “Almost every dairy calf is taken from their mother shortly after birth so most of her milk can be sold to us. And what do you think happens to thousands of male babies like this one?”
The words ‘Dairy is Scary’ and the Viva! logo appeared on a black screen accompanied by a loud, metallic noise and the sound of something falling to the floor.
The ASA received 25 complaints, including one from The Dairy Council of Northern Ireland, that the ad was irresponsible, distressing – especially to those who had lost a child – and was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
Viva! said they aimed to raise awareness of standard practices in the dairy industry, particularly the removal of calves from their mothers shortly after birth.
The charity said the ad was based on factual information and was intended to inform and encourage ethical choices, not to shock.
The ASA said viewers would understand that the ad aimed to raise awareness of animal welfare, but said the nature of the comparison was likely to be seen as insensitive by many, and in particular by those with experience of loss or trauma around parenthood.
The ASA said: “Although the ad did not depict the baby being harmed, and it was not shown being physically removed, we considered that its disappearance was likely to be seen as shocking and unsettling.
“We further considered that the statement ‘You can’t keep your baby’, in combination with the sudden disappearance of the baby, was likely to be particularly upsetting for viewers with experience of child loss or fertility issues, in particular because the parallel with dairy industry practices was revealed only in the latter half of the ad.
“We considered that the message of the ad did not justify the distress likely to be caused by the approach, in particular to vulnerable audiences.
“For those reasons, we concluded that the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause unjustified distress and serious and widespread offence.”
The ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again in the form complained about, adding: “We told Viva! to ensure that future ads were prepared responsibly and did not contain content that was likely to cause serious or widespread offence or unjustified distress to viewers.”
The founder and director of Viva!, Juliet Gellatley, said: “We strongly reject the ASA’s decision. The charity understand that this is a deeply sensitive topic and care had been taken to ensure the scene was obviously symbolic; a fantasy rather than literal.
“The aim was to shine a light on animal suffering in a way that connects emotionally, not to trivialise human grief.
“This ruling is nothing short of censorship. It’s based entirely on subjective opinion, not facts nor evidence. Meanwhile, adverts from the meat and dairy industries continue to present staggeringly false portrayals of idyllic farms – and the ASA does nothing.”
