‘Red River Farm’ is a classic children’s TV show but with a twist. The cute puppet protagonists are actually a band of abused animals here to re-educate the public about using animal products in fashion.

Set on a farm reminiscent of classic children’s TV shows of bygone decades, actress and comedian Jessie Cave meets wholesome, seemingly cheery puppet animals who burst into an upbeat, catchy, yet gruesome song about the cruel treatment they endure in the name of fashion.

It offers an unflinching explanation of how clothes are really made and the consequences for the animals involved. However, the film ends with a message of hope, asking the audience to: “Shop like their lives depend on it”.

Every year more than 1 billion animals are slaughtered for their skins.

Many of the clothes, shoes and accessories that we wear come from cows, sheep, birds and snakes that are bred for their skin and wool and often suffer in horrific circumstances.

The UK is a nation of animal lovers, and recent years have seen a huge rise in people adopting vegan eating behaviours. However, this concern for animal welfare simply was not translating to their clothing choices, because the grim reality was easy to forget or ignore.

Our objective was to raise awareness of this issue amongst young people aged 25-40 and encourage them to make vegan clothing choices.

However, having previously relied on shock tactics in advertising, the public were switching off to PETA’s messages. We needed to find a softer way to tap into our audience’s compassion for animals, while maintaining impact.

With zero media budget, our strategy was to generate reach through relevance and connection with the idea.

We created a newsworthy film to ensure interest from the biggest publishers. It was picked up by titles including the Daily Mail and Metro, with a combined reach of 115 million and an estimated 820K views.

We created resonance with some of the UK’s largest influencers, reaching the networks of: Gemma Collins (2.2m), Jessy Barden (2.1m) and Shabaz Says (1m) among others and generating over 400k views.

We asked traditional media outlets to do better. PETA wrote to CBBC (the UK’s key children’s TV channel) challenging them to broadcast the video to teach children the grim reality and generating PR just for asking.

This increased awareness also changed opinions, with comments like:“Feels like veganism is too focused on the food aspects and people forget the other ways animals are exploited”

In the UK, like most countries, Children’s TV shows are used to educate the young about the facts of life. But, for obvious reasons, they are only told the palatable version. Take wool, for example, we are taught that it’s merely a haircut and that the sheep don’t mind using their hair to make woolly jumpers. And for things like leather, well, that’s just left off the syllabus all together.

We carry this rose tinted view into adulthood. Never questioning what we were told or choosing ignorance over facing up to the real truth. For some things in life, it’s easier to believe the things we were taught when we were young.