BBC accused of being partial on poultry with Christmas advert featuring vegan turkeys

Farmers have accused the BBC of being in breach of its impartiality rules by promoting veganism with a Christmas advert featuring turkeys wearing "I love vegans" jumpers.

The animated birds are seen wearing “I love vegans” jumpers in the recently released festive clip, and rejoicing at meat-free meals.

Concerns have been raised over the impartiality of the “campaigning” broadcaster and the impact of its coverage on livestock producers, with the advert cited as another example of a perceived bias against rural communities.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has decried what is sees as the BBC breaching its impartiality rules by promoting a vegan diet and taking sides in the debate over meat consumption.

The Christmas advert shows the jubilant turkeys cheering the news that “less of us have been gobbled this year”, a yoga teacher saying “we don’t have to eat rabbit food for breakfast any more”, alongside scenes of a family carving a nut roast and a social media montage of meatless dinners.

The NFU intend to complain to the broadcaster about perceived partiality in its festive featurette, which the BBC said was merely meant to be lighthearted and not an endorsement.

Vice president of the union, Stuart Roberts, said: “We are deeply concerned that  the BBC appears to have started campaigning for a vegan diet in advertising for its Christmas programming, none of which appears to cover veganism in its schedule.

“It doesn’t appear to sit within the BBC’s editorial guidelines, which clearly states that they shouldn’t be a campaigning organisation, and this advert takes our concerns about the BBC’s impartiality in its coverage of meat issues a step further.”

The NFU has been supporting turkey farmers in the build-up to Christmas, in a campaign aimed at helping buyers find their local producers.  The union fears the BBC has left itself open to accusations it opposes these producers, and their communities.

Mr Roberts said: “This will cause great frustration for those livestock farmers who feel that this is further evidence that there is a wider BBC agenda against livestock farming and rural communities in the UK.

“We will be complaining at the highest level about this and other recent examples of what we perceive to be BBC bias in this area.”

The film begins with Graham Norton plunging the viewers into a medley of scenes, including a man dressed as a Christmas tree, presenter Rochelle Humes relaxing with animated creatures, and a young woman pleased that her older uncle has “agreed not to talk about politics for the whole day”.  The silenced relative proceeds to carve a nut roast, which introduces the sequence with celebrating turkeys.

The BBC has denied that the advert is in any way an intervention on one side or other of the meat-eating debate.

A spokesman for the corporation said: “The cartoon turkeys in ‘Go Vegan!’ t-shirts are intended to be comedic and playful in keeping with the slightly surreal, exuberant spirit of the film, rather than any kind of endorsement or encouragement of a vegan lifestyle.”

Turkey has steadily become the primary Christmas centrepiece following its introduction to the British dinner table in the 16th century, replacing the varied game of goose, boar or peacock