Amul Must Pull Novak Djokovic Ad: Tennis Champ Is Vegan, Never Consumes Dairy
PETA India sent a letter to Amul telling it to pull appropriating Novak Djokovic’s recent 19th Grand Slam title win in the French Open tennis championship. The advertisement is deceptive, because Djokovic is vegan (plant-based) and therefore does not consume dairy. Last year, PETA India slammed Amul for featuring Joaquin Phoenix’s likeness in an ad right after he accepted the Oscar for Best Actor for Joker and gave a moving speech highlighting the importance of animal rights and specifically denouncing dairy-industry cruelty to cows and calves.
Many athletes and celebrities around the world, including tennis champion Venus Williams, Formula 1’s Lewis Hamilton, American football player Colin Kaepernick, and Olympic gold medallist and football player Alex Morgan, are eating vegan for improved health, because of concerns for animals, or to help the environment. Indian footballer Sunil Chhetri has also been reported to eat vegan for improved recovery, digestion, and fitness. In fact, a documentary has been made on vegan athletes, called The Game Changers, which is available on Netflix. Even when athletes, stars, and consumers aren’t fully vegan, they’re still increasingly opting for plant-based foods.
Utterly daft move @Amul_Coop! @DjokerNole is plant-based, does not consume dairy. https://t.co/ufp2qwLZ24. He’s also Executive Producer of The Game Changers about plant-based (vegan) athletes. Last year we told you Joaquin Phoenix is vegan after you used his likeness in an ad.
— PETA India (@PetaIndia) June 22, 2021
The letter also points out that a study published by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in the journal Nutrients found that vegan athletes benefit from improvements in heart health, performance, and recovery. Other people are vegan for the environment. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization revealed that meat, egg, and dairy production is responsible for about 14.5% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, which, by some estimates, is greater than all the world’s transportation systems combined. Many people turn to vegan foods because they object to the common abandonment or killing of male calves and the supply of cattle to the beef and leather industries by the dairy sector.
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