Our Top Visuals To Keep the Vegan Dialogue Going Beyond Veganuary

Veganuary is drawing to a close. This international campaign that encourages people to “Try Vegan” for the month of January, and beyond, has tremendous impact. Since its inception in 2014, millions of people have signed up to the 31-day pledge.

With the support of celebrities, professional athletes, high-calibre chefs, empowering marketing materials and a plethora of resources, Veganuary has pushed veganism into the mainstream. Veganuary is doing something right!

So how do we sustain this incredible energy? As animal photojournalists, we firmly believe that high-quality, poignant visuals are the key to talking about veganism with new audiences.

We’ve compiled our top visual picks for you to use to continue the dialogue about veganism with your audience. These visuals are ideal for campaigns, email newsletters, blog posts, and social media—however you communicate with your audience. We’ll tell you how to best use them, and of course, where you can download these images for free (hint: it’s the We Animals stock site).

A curious adult pig gazes intently into the camera. Many pigs live on this large industrial farm inside small, bare, concrete, open-air pens. Sub-Saharan Africa, 2022.

Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Bring The Audience In

For any campaign, blog post, or social media carousel, you need a visual to captivate your audience. Think back on campaigns that have impacted you – that have moved you to question your behaviour, moved you to action, or to donate. Without fail the strongest campaigns use gripping images to motivate their audiences and convey their main point.The picture you choose will depend primarily on your audience, how you want to motivate them and what you want to express to them.

Farmed animals are hidden from our view in factory farms, slaughterhouses and transport trucks. For this reason, eye contact is profoundly impactful. The images below allow the viewer to meet the individual in front of the lens – perhaps for the first time – and connect in a way they may never have before.

Tip: you can search the term “eye contact” on the We Animals stock site.

Animals transported for slaughter from across Europe through the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Türkiye, 2018.

Jo-Anne McArthur / Eyes On Animals / We Animals

Two hens peer out between the slats of the cramped cage they live in at an intensive egg farm. Bali, Indonesia, 2022.

Seb Alex / We Animals

Talk About The "Why"

Why should people try veganism? Here is an excellent opportunity to talk about factory farming or the consequences of animal agriculture on our climate stability. What’s the best way to talk about factory farming to a new audience? A tip from our founder, Jo-Anne McArthur: show scope, but also show the individuals.

At an Indonesian market before the Eid al-Fitr holiday, a chicken investigates the body of a slaughtered chicken soaking in a tub of hot water before being defeathered. As Eid al-Fitr nears, customer demand for chicken meat markedly increases preceding the holiday celebrations. Pagi Market, Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung, Indonesia, 2023.

Resha Juhari / We Animals

Milk dispenser trucks drive between the incalculable number of calf hutches in a massive dairy farm’s yard. Turkey Creek Dairy, Pearce, Arizona, USA, 2023.

Ram Daya / We Animals

And Animal Products?

It may be obvious to you why animal by-products (milk, cheese, eggs, wool, honey, etc.) should be avoided, but assume your audience does not know why. Find a visual that best encapsulates those industries.

Still wet from birth, a calf is wheeled away from her mother to the veal crates at a dairy farm. Spain, 2010.

Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality / We Animals

A laying hen in a battery cage on an industrial egg production farm peers from behind an egg. Their eggs are laid on a wire grid and transported away by conveyor to another building. Poland, 2022.

Andrew Skowron / We Animals

A sheep on a dairy farm is restrained by her ear while sheared with electric trimmers, a procedure carried out twice yearly by a trained shearing team. Some of this sheep’s wool is completely removed, leaving her with patches of bare skin. The process stresses the sheep, who may suffer cuts and wounds from fast shearing, rough handling, and further torment from flies attracted to her injuries. Cadca, Cadca District, Zilina Region, Slovakia, 2023.

Zuzana Mit / We Animals

Don't Forget The Tastebuds!

As we know, the world of plant-based food is bursting with flavour and innovation. Why not show your audience what the Future of Food looks like?

Chef Jun Sog works with WildType’s cultivated salmon. Wildtype Foods, San Francisco, California, USA, 2021.

Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

Marc Morgan, a team member at The Better Meat Company, monitors a fermenter where microbes are turned into animal-free meats from Rhiza mycoproteins. The Better Meat Company grows and sell these healthful fermented proteins to companies to use as blended or fully animal-free meats. The Better Meat Co., West Sacramento, California, USA, 2021.

Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

It’s All About The Animals

At its core, veganism is about compassion. Animals used for food are rarely in the public consciousness. This needs to change. Here is a great opportunity to showcase how playful and intelligent pigs are, the fearful eye of a cow on its way to slaughter, or the injustice of chickens living in stifling conditions.

Two pigs stand nose to nose in flood waters while awaiting rescue at an Italian factory pig farm. Extreme weather in May 2023 caused mudslides and waterways to overflow, severely affecting numerous factory farms. This farm had no evacuation plan, and many pigs were trapped in the flood waters for days. Lugo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, 2023.

Selene Magnolia / Essere Animali / We Animals

A nighttime aerial view of cattle destined for slaughter in the Middle East who occupy eight huge open-sided decks on the Mawashi Express, a massive farmed animal carrier ship capable of transporting thousands of live animals in a single voyage. The ship is en route between South America and Turkiye, a journey of at least 24 to 30 days. Cape Verde, 2023.

Orwell / We Animals