Has veganism had its 15 minutes of fame?

2019 was a good year for Vegan PR and marketing. It was riding a wave of both health and environmentalism (though mainly health). Vegan January 2020 (Veganuary) had the most participants with 400,000 globally signed up (though relatively small compared to the overall population).

Vegan was hip, trendy and fashionable. Especially among Millennial and Gen Z girls and the middle class. The media loved it. Social media loved it. Influencers like Fearne Cotton, Niomi Smart, Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, Lucy Watson and Lewis Hamilton have cultivated the trend big time.

No surprise, with all the hype, brands jumped on the bandwagon and wanted a slice of the vegan market. Though, some avoided the ‘vegan’ word because it’s essentially a brand, opting for ‘plant-based’ (this is the advice I have given several brands).

We saw an explosion of vegan badged comfort and junk food – burgers, fried chicken, pizzas, tacos and kebabs. Fast food brands added a vegan option. A growing number of products in supermarkets were suddenly badged ‘vegan’ (though over 70% were just products reclassified).

The press highlighted the growth of alternative meat products (meat analogues), like Beyond Meat, Impossible Burger (adopted by Burger King) and Greggs vegan sausage rolls. Personally I have never understood the fact that if you reject meat why would you want a bean mock burger?

While it has a relatively small and loyal group of evangelists, veganism has certainly enjoyed a bigger group of fad followers of fashion (mostly under 30s). Estimates say there are approx 250,000 vegans in the UK (against a UK population of 65m), the Vegan Society claims 600,000. Not exactly a wealthy market to chase but middle class shoppers were exploring vegan products and diets, more because they ‘believed’ them to be healthier. A survey by Mintel suggested that 11% of Britons have explored a vegan diet at some point (not to be confused with going vegan - there is a big difference between adding a few vegan products to the shopping basket and actually becoming a vegan).

Forget its dark side; criticism about it’s mixed values, grooming young kids online, spinning data, financial support from dubious churches in America, disputable health claims, over simplistic environmental claims - the fact one of their ads couldn’t get a simple scientific fact about cows and methane right, and the rest… The media loved it, it could do no wrong. Critics voices were ignored or cited as ‘being in the pocket of the meat industry or McDonalds’. The war between meat and plant based diets seemed to be going the vegan way.

The world was turning against meat and going vegan... except it wasn’t. What we say and what we do rarely align.

 For example, a survey of students saying they had gone vegan revealed most lied – to be seen to be vegan was cool, but after a few beers the burger or kebab was too inviting. Most claiming to be vegans were in fact flexitarians.

Despite reductions in meat sales in Western countries, meat sales globally were rising, no wonder the powerful meat industry was not worried about the cult of veganism. McDonalds sells 6.5 million burgers a day [Mashed.com].

(Amusing site that shows you how many McDonald products are sold every second https://everysecond.io/mcdonalds )

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world (36%) followed by poultry (33%) and beef (24%).

"The world’s livestock sector is growing at an unprecedented rate and the driving force behind this enormous surge is a combination of population growth, rising incomes and urbanization. Annual meat production is projected to increase from 218 million tonnes in 1997-1999 to 376 million tonnes by 2030." [World Health Organization]

? 75% of animal methane emissions came from developing countries, with India and Brazil being the leading producers.

Vegan vs plant-based - a passing food fashion or are consumer really changing their diets?

This time last year I lost count of how many people asked me if I thought veganism was here to stay or a passing fad. Should they jump on the bandwagon?

My thoughts was that going vegan was a passing fashionable fad, but that there would be a big growth in plant-based products and if you are thinking long term, avoid the V word.

Then came the pandemic.

 Nothing like a crisis to change our behaviour, bring us down to earth and make us forget the fads.

The lockdown made us revaluate. Get back to basics.

Supermarkets reduced their ranges and vegan products were a major victim.

 According to data from Mealtrak, UK’s leading insights specialist in OOH/FTG, vegan is on its way down. In is scratch cooking, healthier eating.

“One thing is for sure, the world of food & drink outside the home will not be the same – so a ‘more of the same’ strategy is unlikely to succeed.” [Nick Blake, Mealtrak]

To re-quote some of their findings:

More engagement with food, especially at home:

?        Scratch Cooking, Home Baking and Family Cooking – consequent upskilling

?        Extended focus on intrinsic Healthy Eating (less so lifestyle, such as vegan)

A return to core food values...

?           Trust: hygiene and safety factors; simplicity and transparency

?           Natural: ingredients integrity and authenticity; home-made values

?           Rewarding: Classics and Comfort Foods, alongside increased experimentation

The objective advice to FMCG brands and retailers is to focus on healthy and nutritious – including broader plant-based, but less actual vegan.

[?2020 Mealtrak go to www.mealtrak.com to get report]

Aside from the changing trend, veganism has been battling a low retention rate for decades, research in America showed that 84% of people who have adopted vegetarianism or veganism have gone back to eating meat. [FastCompany/HRC].

The key issue here is to change the strategy and not to try and make people avoid all meat, but just simply reduce the bad stuff (mainly red meats) that alone would make an impact upon the environment but more importantly reduce the health issues.

The challenge for veganism is that to become a vegan requires religious like discipline as you try to eliminating all animal products from your diet, including meat, fish, seafood, dairy, eggs and honey.  Plus any animal products, such as carmine or gelatine, used in foods such as biscuits. You must also make sure that none of your clothing contains animal products such as leather and fur, as well as ensuring all makeup and beauty products you use are cruelty-free. That’s a tough call for most, even a monk.

The vegan lifestyle is a lot of hard work, if you ever tried it you’ll spend hours of your day reading labels to check for hidden dairy and meat products. And eventually you’ll ask yourself, “why exactly am I doing this?”

For many consumers trying out a vegan diet was novel but going fully vegan is too extreme (and even fanatical) for them and combined with a growing negative press, especially around health issues, there are far more attractive alternatives that do you good and the planet. Being a flexitarian is far more attractive for a start.

If the vegan movement wants to convert more people it needs a new strategy. Health and environment may have been a good spin for now but it isn’t engaging the masses. First it needs to easy up on its almost cult like attitude and take a less ‘meat hate’ attitude. Meat is not the enemy, bad diet and bad farming are and that’s not just restricted to meat farming.

While veganism is losing favour.

If you pitch something as healthy, don’t be surprised when experts start to pick you apart. Remember that cigarettes were once sold as healthy? Or making big environmental claims.

While veganism is a total lifestyle for a few, even a belief system (it’s often criticised as a cult due to the obsessive philosophy), it's been nothing more than a diet for many. Research shows that the major reason so many people (especially women) trying to do vegan quit is because they want to try out other diets. Most of us want an easy life.

? 71% of people say they want to eat a healthier diet [survey by Inc.] Though healthier eating and a healthy diet are two different things. The number one month for dieting is January (no surprise the Vegan Society picked that for promoting the vegan diet).

“The global rise in obesity, metabolic disease and type 2 diabetes, now reaching epidemic proportions, has accompanied our increasing consumption of junk food, particularly of carbohydrates.” [Guardian, the hidden destructive cost of a vegan diet] “…the rise in vegan junk food will be followed by the realisation that vegan junk food is, after all, junk food.”

Americans have become very aware that they eat too much junk food and red meat and are desperately trying to rebalance their diets. This is the key market for plant-based meat like products.

According to the USDA, the average American ate over 200lbs of red meat in 2018; that's the equivalent of nearly 900 Quarter Pounders (or 2.4 burgers a day). They are eating more than five times the amount of red meat diet experts recommend as part of a healthy diet.

No one debates that a diet of too much red meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, obesity and high cholesterol levels and that we have a serious health crisis. [US Dpt of Health & Human Services]

The Mediterranean Diet still ranks as the best and most popular globally for health, weight and life expectancy because of its variety and balance of meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, pulses, olive oil.

But diets have always been fashionable - remember the cabbage diet promoted by Hollywood actresses? Or the Atkins - eat as much meat as you like - diet? The latest top fad diets are the Paleo (the hunter-gather diet, meat, veg, nuts, low carb) and the Keto (high in fats and proteins, meat, dairy, low in carbs and fibre). But there are loads that come and go.

Alongside diest are food fads such as Gluten Free, which have been criticised for being exploited and heavily promoted by big food companies through stealth marketing. If you are one of a very small number who have a medical reason to avoid gluten, fine, but actually when you cut out gluten without a medical need to do so, experts say you cut out a huge source of fibre, vitamin B, iron, copper, and magnesium, all of which help you fight fatigue. The belief that you’ll feel less bloated probably has more to do with a change in diet not lack of gluten. Or plain gullibility – the placebo effect.

Switching to an all-plant diet may help you lose weight but it can raise your risk of certain nutrient deficiencies. It’s a science fact that vegans are often deficient in many important nutrients, including Vitamin B12 (important for red blood cells, the nerve system, DNA), calcium (for teeth and bones), Omega 3 (for the brain) and Creatine (important for muscle strength). Studies show that vegans also have much lower testosterone levels than their meat-eating counterparts, so no wonder it’s less popular with men.

 “A study from the University of Bristol found that people on diets that avoid meat and dairy are twice as likely to develop depression due to a lower intake of vitamin B12 and other minerals commonly found in meat.” However, it could be that people who suffer depression and emotional issues are more drawn to extreme diets or food fads.

A zero meat diet can be ageing too as a lack of essential proteins reduces skin elasticity, so no wonder women over 30 are running away from it.

No one will disagree that both plant based and meat based diets have pros and cons. But when it comes to bringing up kids, should we follow our beliefs or the science? Most parents believe that kids need a healthy balanced diet, ’meat and two veg’ has been the mantra of many generations of parents. We all agree that kids should eat less junk food, less sweets and avoid sugary sodas.

Out of 53 doctors I addressed at a conference, not one supported a vegan diet for kids, in fact many strongly objected to it. “It’s just not healthy for kids – the Italians were trying to make it illegal to bring a kid up vegan.” Several were equally concerned about mental health issues and what vegan parents were doing to their kids minds as some see it as a ‘belief based lifestyle’.

We all agree that eating less red meats can reduce the risk of heart disease due to a lower intake of saturated fats but white meats are much healthier than red meats and fish is especially healthy, diet experts believe it’s not about cutting out meat but striking the right balance. You can eat almost anything in moderation and be healthy, but a Big Mac a day is a killer.

The environment…

The vast majority of diet seekers were not trying to save the planet. It’s not untrue that plant based diets can be more environmentally positive but ‘boycotting meat’ isn’t resulting in one less cow on the planet as the new middle class in places like China are eating more meat. Meat is status.

Though there’s solid evidence that factory meat farming is un-environmental, consumers are seeing past generic statements that all meat is bad. It isn’t. Not all meat is unethically farmed (ask the Black Farmer, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones) or any more damaging to the environment than other farming (most pigs from the pork capital of Spain, Extremadura, let their pigs roam freely around forests and hill sides). You can’t put fish, white meats and red meats all together in one category.

And even though bad farming does contribute to climate change (I could write 5000 words on that subject alone), the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities is from burning fossil fuels for electricity and heat, followed by motor vehicles.

Recently rice growing in paddy fields has been cited as another environmentally bad food product because it produces masses of methane. And rice growing is expanding globally.

Plus the manufacture and use of fertilizers used for growing everything from vegetables and fruit to animal feed. Fertilizers consists of substances and chemicals like methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and nitrogen, the emission of which has contributed to climate change. Due to contamination of rivers and lakes, they boost the excessive growth of algae in the water bodies, thereby decreasing the level of oxygen for aquatic life.

Soya production, linked to deforestation was originally for cattle feed but the growing market for soya milks and products means that soya is now being listed as bad for the environment.

Add to that waste, not just by consumers, but by farmers who have no choice but to let imperfect vegetable and fruit rot because supermarkets want tasteless beauty products – thankfully ugly is becoming a new trend.

The politics and ethics of food is a very complex area, and certainly not black or white. Like politics, you can quote stats, real science, pseudo -science and real and dubious experts to prove the argument either way.

NOTE: Whilst researching this piece the biggest conflict I faced was which facts to use and quote? No surprise that those with a vested interest or bias have some impressive data to support their arguments but that data is often unsupported by more independently minded organisations and sources like WHO. You can't trust what you read, even in some credible publications - one just requoted a press release loaded with dubious facts without fact checking. At the end of the day, those that disagree will find always find plenty of data to support their view point.

Changing consumers hearts and minds...

One of the biggest dangers in trying to get consumers to change their habits is to make them think they have solved a problem rather than they are doing less damage. Thinking emotionally rather than pragmatically.

To claim you are “saving the planet” because you ride to work, eat less meat and rice and have low energy light bulbs is both arrogant and na?ve. But we all have someone in the office who think they are. That's not to knock those that are doing less damage but keeping things in perspective is critical to making a global consumer change from over consumption of bad food.

The plastic straw campaign, off the back of the plastic oceans campaign, now seems comical as Chelsea yuppies thought by using a paper straw they were actually solving a problem – tick box, job done, I’ll go to heaven. I question how many had a clue about the real cause and the solutions needed.

The proliferation of plastic products in the last several decades has been extraordinary, we are addicted to this nearly indestructible material. Every year we produce over 300 million tons of plastic, 50% of which is for single-use purposes. More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped or finds its way into our oceans every year. Over 90% of seabirds have been found to have plastic in their stomachs.

Yet despite campaigns to raise awareness, we continue to buy products in plastic containers. Talk is easy, doing the walk isn't.

[How plastic ends up in the ocean facts: https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/how-does-plastic-end-ocean]

Boycotting is a popular strategy, essential the strategy of veganism, but it often makes little difference. If you think meat farming is cruel and bad for the environment, create a new model of farming that isn’t. It's easy to highlight a problem, but not so easy to find an effective solution.

Francisco Norris, while studying at the Royal College of Art, did exactly that and created ZELP - a methane-reduction device and certification system that aims to reduce the environmental impact of methane emissions caused by the livestock industry. [Methane from cows contributes 44% of the total livestock industry emissions.] ZELP neutralises methane emissions by oxidising them in real time into carbon dioxide, this reduces the environmental impact of the methane emissions by a factor of up to 85 (Global Warming Potential over 20 years).

Animal husbandry, human values…

 If you are an animal lover and believe farming of animals is both unacceptable and unethical, then eating a meat free diet is a fair choice.

Veganism was founded by animal rights activist, Donald Watson in 1944 as a non-dairy vegetarian philosophy. He was not a fan of animal farming techniques of that period and his doctrine was that “man should live without exploiting animals".

 But there is plenty of farmers how have high ethics and are certified by organisations like the RSPCA to reassure consumer animals have been treated well.

 But you do need to look at the ethics of general farming – especially the mass exploitation of workers from the tea industry to bananas. Millions work in effective forced slavery to provide products that sit in our supermarkets. Paid poor wages, with no rights. No surprise the Fairtrade badge is the most respected and loved by consumers.

Read some of my piece on MODERN DAY SLAVERY, you'll be shocked: https://lnkd.in/ezApRqM https://lnkd.in/em7xrta 

Looking forward…

 There are a million way you can live a more environmentally responsible and ethical lifestyle and be a more conscientious consumer, but how many consumers really want to make sacrifices? Especially when the masses just carry on as normal. It's easy to talk, harder to walk.

Celebrity diets, food fads, eating trends come and go. What we have seen is a growing trend in stealth marketing by brands, from influencers to PR, tapping into our desire for a quick fix healthier diet. Because it’s worth big money. 

While vegans try to promote their beliefs, at least they are honest about it, big brands are looking just for the dollar.

As the world starts to ‘reset’ expect the next diet/lifestyle fad to be a big one with a big budget behind it.

 Discuss…

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Chris Arnold is a Dr of Business and author of Ethical Marketing & The New Consumer. He is currently working on Why Doing Good is Good for Business (Why some companies actually give a f***).

He was the Brand Republic's blogger on ethical marketing. He has many articles on Linkedin you can read about ethics.

He is specialist in community engagement, ethical marketing and branding and sustainability communication and strategy.

He is founder of ethical agencies FEEL and Creative Otchestrat and co-founder of CONNECT2, UK's leading specialists in business to community engagement (B2C2)

For more insights into ethical marketing ethic visit:

https://www.connect2-uk.com/articles/

No sales calls, hate mail or trolling please.

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