The global vegan campaign Veganuary which encourages people to try the vegan diet during January has been growing in Latin America since it was launched there in 2020. The NGO of the same name that runs it was originally founded in the UK ten years ago, and during this year more than 700 thousand people registered worldwide. Its presence in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries dates back to 2020 and has been growing since. In Latin America, countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico had a large Veganuary turnout in January 2023.
According to the first survey to measure Veganuary’s participation in Latin America conducted in January by YouGov, 5% of respondents from Chile, 7% of those from Argentina and Mexico, and 8% of those in Brazil claimed to have participated in Veganuary during the month.
A total of 235 brands joined the campaign in Latin America and Spain in 2023. Mauricio Serrano, director of Veganuary Latin America, said, “This was the most vegan January since our initiative officially arrived in Latin America in 2020, demonstrating that people and companies trust this movement and rely on Veganuary to consume or promote plant-based products during January and beyond, predicting an even more vegan future for the coming months and Januarys.”
Local celebrities have also been supporting the campaign, such as Xuxa and Hana Khalil in Brazil, Kathy Moscoso in Colombia, Marco Antonio Regil in Mexico, Leo Montero in Argentina, and Eliana Albasetti in Chile. As far as politicians are concerned, the campaign has been supported by Chilean deputy Jorge Brito well as Tomás Boric, the brother of the president of Chile. In Colombia, the animal-friendly senator Andrea Padilla also claimed to have participated in Veganuary. The media in nine Spanish-speaking countries published more than 330 news stories on the topics related to the Veganuary 2023 campaign.
