Welsh cinemas launch moving Christmas advert featuring girl and cow

Stephen Price

A new Christmas advert featuring a young girl forming a friendship with a cow is coming to big screens in Cardiff and Swansea this month.

The advert created by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) urges people to see the individual behind every festive meal.

Created in collaboration with creative agency Atomic London and filmed at Hillside Animal Sanctuary, the feature begins with a young schoolgirl stopping to practise Jingle Bells on her trumpet near a farm she passes on her walk home.

At the gate to a field, she bonds with a curious cow who always comes to the fence to listen.

But when the girl brings her mother to meet her new friend, who is nowhere to be found, the joy fades – because her friend is gone.

Plea

The advert ends with simple footage of the cow leaving the field for the last time and a simple plea from the animal rights charity: “Everyone deserves a merry Christmas.

“Please leave animals off your plate.”

The spot is being shown at Cardiff cinemas, including Vue, Odeon, and Cineworld branches, throughout the festive season.

“Loving”

PETA Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen said: “Children have a natural empathy for animals, but many young people – and adults, too – may not think about the fact that their holiday roast came from playful, loving cows, who are easily befriended.”

Elisa added: “PETA’s ad encourages Cardiff and Swansea locals to show goodwill to all by choosing a delicious vegan feast this Christmas and beyond.”

One cinema goer who saw the advert said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been moved so much by an advert.

“We’re so used to materialistic ads like John Lewis or whatever this time of year, so something like this I didn’t expect at all.

“It’ll definitely stay with me.”

“Speciesism”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” say that they opposes ‘speciesism’ – something they term ‘a human-supremacist worldview’.

For more information and to watch the feature in full, visit PETA.org.uk