Belgian TV station fined after animal rights charity paid for pro-vegan storyline in soap opera

The character of Zjef would expand on the virtues of veganism as he introduced a new range of vegan sandwiches to his snack bar. 

Credit: VTM

A Belgian TV channel was fined £22,000 by broadcast regulators after an animal rights group paid for pro-vegan storylines to be inserted into a popular soap opera. 

Familie, one of the most popular soaps in Dutch-speaking Flanders, has aired on the VTM channel up to six evenings a week to 800,000 viewers since 1991. 

A storyline beginning last year centred on the fortunes of Zjef, who runs a sandwich bar in the city of Mechelen and introduces a new line of vegan sandwiches. 

This provided Zjef and other characters ample opportunity to engage in lengthy discussions on the health benefits of veganism and the importance of protecting animal rights. 

At the end of each show on the commercial channel, the animal rights group GAIA was credited for their cooperation. 

GAIA was not just the inspiration for the storyline but paid a so-far undisclosed sum for the plot to be part of the series, the Brussels Times website reported. 

The broadcast regulator took a dim view of that and fined VTM €25,000. It has no powers to fine the animal rights pressure group.

The Flemish broadcast regulator, which can impose fines of up to €125,000, said the payment broke rules over editorial independence.

It said the storyline was  "unmistakably the result of a conscious editorial choice that was made in light of the conclusion of an important sponsorship agreement."

"We have established that the storyline was developed at the request of the sponsor and that it did not exist before GAIA decided to act as a sponsor," it said.

“We asked VTM whether there were any other ways to put our campaign in the spotlight,” GAIA director Ann De Greef told the Brussels Times. 

“Then VTM came up with the idea of collaborating on several episodes of Familie. We are simply making use of that possibility, like other organisations do.” 

She said that other organisations used public money to regularly broadcast adverts encouraging people to eat more daily. 

The farmers’ union Boerenbond said the uproar over the revelations has been blown out of proportion. 

It said, “We embrace both animal and vegetable products when they originate from agriculture.”

In 2019, doctors in Belgium called for parents who raise their children as vegans to be prosecuted.