Today, 20 April, marks the official launch of Project Slingshot’s bold new campaign, End Factory Farming: Don’t Buy It, rolling out across London’s Underground network and citywide billboards. Inspired by the David and Goliath story, the campaign takes aim at what it describes as one of the most powerful, and least scrutinised, industries in the world: industrial-scale factory farming.
With more than 750 ads appearing in 206 Tube stations and over 2,000 placements inside carriages, the campaign is designed to confront millions of commuters with a message the group says has been deliberately obscured. Project Slingshot argues that factory farming hasn’t merely grown over the past half-century, it has come to dominate the global food system, with over 90% of farmed animals now raised in intensive conditions.
At the heart of the campaign is a simple premise: most people are unaware of how their food is produced, and if they did know, they might make different choices. Rather than telling the public what to eat, Project Slingshot says its mission is to “turn the lights on” by exposing practices typically hidden from view.
One of the campaign’s central focuses is the widespread use of CO₂ gas chambers to slaughter pigs in the UK. High-profile supporters including Diane Morgan, Dr Amir Khan, and Jen Brister feature in the ads, each challenging the industry’s claim that such methods are humane. Their shared conclusion – “I don’t buy it” – forms the campaign’s defining call to action.
Co-founder Naomi Hallum describes the issue as “industrial-scale gaslighting,” arguing that the public has been misled about the realities of modern farming. Fellow co-founder Matthew Glover adds that while agribusiness holds significant political and economic power, “the truth is the slingshot” capable of driving change.
Project Slingshot positions itself as a “narrative pressure engine,” drawing inspiration from historic public health campaigns that shifted social norms around tobacco and drink-driving. Its broader goal is ambitious: to make factory farming socially and politically unacceptable, and ultimately to end the practice by 2040.
Backed by a global team of creatives, investigators, and campaigners, the initiative plans to expand beyond the UK, building momentum through sustained, high-visibility “drumbeats” of information.
As the campaign goes live, its message is clear: the system persists not because it works, but because it remains unseen. Project Slingshot’s challenge to the public is equally clear – if you knew the truth, would you still buy it?
Learn the truth at www.endfactoryfarming.com, and through their Wickedpedia facts page.