The use of art to drive political or ethical change is often called 'artivism'. Artivists create work that is not only aesthetically engaging but also educational and provocative. They want you to walk away changed. It may appear in galleries, social media posts, or vegan advocacy campaigns, But artivism, no matter how brilliant, cannot compare to the marketing campaigns of meat corporations. For art to be a meaningful driver of change, it must be part of a wider movement. That means coupling art with education, community organizing, and policy reform. Art can awaken us, but change comes when we translate that awakening into action.
SARX: Art has long held a prophetic voice in society — a voice that does not merely echo the status quo, but challenges it. Through brushstrokes, sculpture, song, or spoken word, art has the potential to pierce the veil of everyday life and reveal the deeper truths often obscured by power, tradition, or economic interest.
One artist doing precisely that is Philip McCulloch-Downs, whose work Marketing Myths strips away the cheery façade of the meat industry to expose the haunting reality of animal suffering. By highlighting how marketing campaigns distort our understanding of the animals we consume, McCulloch-Downs calls us to see the world—and our relationship with animals—with unclouded eyes and compassionate hearts. In a world saturated with advertising and slogans, how can we recognise truth from fiction? And what role does faith, ethics, and empathy play in our response?…
Art has always played a central role in social change. From Picasso’s Guernica to Banksy’s politically charged murals, creative works disrupt the normal flow of things. They interrupt. They make us look again. Art is particularly powerful when it doesn’t just present truth but translates it into symbols and stories that evoke feeling and demand attention (Lambert & Duncombe, 2018).
Marketing Myths does exactly that. With bold, satirical strokes, McCulloch-Downs deconstructs the smiling mascots, idyllic farm imagery, and cheerful packaging found in the meat aisle. He exposes how these visuals are not harmless branding decisions but deeply ideological tools. They obscure reality. They comfort our conscience.
The pieces invites viewers to ask: Have I fallen for this deception? Have I allowed myself to believe that suffering can look like a laughing cow or a jolly hen?… Sociologist Liz Grauerholz coined the term cuteification to describe how meat advertisements make animals appear sweet, innocent, and harmless—as a way to reduce consumer discomfort. In her study of commercial imagery, she shows how animals are anthropomorphised into lovable characters, designed to elicit affection, not ethical concern…
The result is a kind of moral anaesthesia. And it is precisely this spell that Marketing Myths attempts to break. The use of art to drive political or ethical change is often called artivism. Artivists create work that is not only aesthetically engaging but also educational and provocative. They want you to walk away changed. But artivism, no matter how brilliant, cannot work alone.
For art to be a meaningful driver of change, it must be part of a wider movement. Art can awaken us—but change comes when we translate that awakening into action. That means coupling art with education, community organising, and policy reform.
McCulloch-Downs’ work is powerful. But compared to the colossal budgets of meat corporations – Tyson Foods alone spent over $339 million on advertising in 2023 — the reach of an artwork like Marketing Myths is modest. It may appear in galleries, social media posts, or vegan advocacy campaigns, but it’s unlikely to rival a Super Bowl ad… The challenge, then, is not simply to critique false stories, but to tell better ones. If the meat industry uses fantasy to justify exploitation, animal advocates must use truth to inspire justice.
That doesn’t mean bombarding people with horror or shaming them into submission. It means, as Marketing Myths does, helping people to see clearly. It means showing the beauty of animals, the depth of their experience, and the cruelty of systems that profit from their pain. It means pointing to a better way—one that honours animals as part of God’s good creation.
Vegan and plant-based living offer a tangible step towards that better way. But the deeper goal is not dietary perfection. It’s spiritual integrity. It’s refusing to let the love of convenience outweigh the love of creation. SOURCE…
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