PETA, in partnership with ad agency Grey London, is exposing the carnage behind the Christmas cheer with a bold new campaign, “Happy Christmassacre,” urging people to go vegan this festive season.
The cinema ad, social media and OOH campaign encourages people to choose compassion over cruelty by going vegan for Christmas. While December is often painted as a time of joy and generosity, millions of animals are slaughtered to fill dinner tables.
“Happy Christmassacre” invites viewers to pause and reflect on those traditions and make kinder, more conscious choices.
At the heart of the campaign is a bold creative idea that hijacks the familiar warmth of Christmas and turns it into something disturbingly revealing. The hero film, a darkly comic two minute spot directed by Emmy and Cannes Lions winner David Shane at O Positive, opens on the quintessential Christmas dinner scene before transforming into a horror-inspired depiction of the hidden violence behind the feast.
The hero film will appear in U.K. cinemas and on global digital platforms, with Germany, the U.K. and U.S. as key social markets.
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Helen Rhodes, chief creative officer, Grey London, said, “Nothing says Christmas like carving up the corpse of a once-sentient being in front of your nearest and dearest. This year, we wanted to shine a light on that dark festive tradition, to expose the quiet, normalized savagery that plays out at millions of dinner tables across the country. We hope our message resonates so that this Christmas, more people choose compassion over cruelty — and that nut roast sales go through the roof.”
Director Shane added, “It’s such a strong and simple idea. We’re all complicit, right? Most of us kind of turn a willful blind eye to how the food we eat at the holidays arrives on our plate. But even though we’re trying to say something fairly serious, it was a ludicrously hilarious shoot. And the hardest job fell to our lovely cast who had to try not to laugh when getting sprayed with streams of fake blood.”
