Greenpeace unhappy with meat claims in school classrooms

The Dutch Advertising Standards Authority has criticised environmental group Greenpeace for exaggerating the effects of eating meat in a ready-to-use curriculum pack for primary school pupils. According to Dutch media reports.

One of the slides in the presentation that teachers can show to their classes includes the text “Vlees = honger” (meat = hunger), and the Reclame Code Commissie said that was too much.

Trouw cited the agency as saying that the courses, which state that “animals eat 50% of the harvest, so there is less food for humans,” should be considered advertising because they convey the Greenpeace message. Agricultural Organization ZLTOnot yet published.

Trouw said the Advertising Association was the only body responsible for checking the quality of free courses in schools. Under freedom of education rules, schools are free to choose teaching materials and inspectors are not involved.

From 2020, sponsorship of educational programmes must comply with a code of conduct signed by schools, industry and the government. The code states that sponsorship “must not influence the educational content” and must not include advertising or subjective messages.

However, Reint Jan Renes, a psychology lecturer at the HBO Academy in Amsterdam, told Fidelity Educational materials produced by Shell do contain pro-company sentiments. He has been monitoring the oil giant’s role in schools since 2016.

He said the lessons were focused on green energy projects and less clear on Shell’s own role in global warming, which he called “moral licensing”.

“Shell is effectively saying ‘we’re doing a good job, so please give us more space to do other things that are not so beneficial,’ ” he said. “The lessons are for their own benefit and image.”

Expeditie Oceanaan is a free lesson pack produced by Albert Heijn that won a marketing award two years ago and is promoted by TV biologist Freek Vonk. But Renes said the launch of the lesson coincided with the supermarket group’s launch of a new sticker range to encourage children to ask their parents to do their shopping in the supermarket.

Reines and other experts say there needs to be some form of regulation and inspection.