PR disaster or intentional noise - has Rude Health gone too far?

Darlings of the dairy free world, Rude Health recently put out a post on Instagram (above) reaffirming that, whilst their products are an alternative to the white stuff produced by cows, goats and camels (2017's newest trend!) they are not "against dairy".

This sparked rumblings in the vegan camp and when a blog post was spotted from the end of September that noted vegan/vegetarianism (along with other diets that cut out particular food groups) as a "regime" all hell broke loose across their social media channels.

Vitriolic comments denouncing the brands ethics and marking it as "an attack" on their core customer base has prompted customers (consumers and businesses alike) to drop them like a hot stone and move to competitor products. The hashtag "#boycottrudehealth" seems to be getting a lot of use too.

Both online and in 'real life' their actions have prompted discussion of 'why?'  

Vegan numbers are rising in the UK but they still only make up just over 1% of the countries total population so... 

Is this an intentional repositioning of the brand, to capture a wider audience?

Is there NPD in the pipeline that's really going to piss of those that loathe dairy?

Was this a calculated, controversial post?

Did RH's brand director have an off day and decide to anger the vegan world...for laughs?

Rude Health has certainly created a lot of noise around the brand and whilst they're reportedly losing shelf space in many independent stores, only time will tell to see how this affects them in the long term.