The Vegan Society (2022) describes veganism as philosophy and as a way of living which seeks to exclude exploitation and cruelty to animals for food, clothing and other products.
Switching to a vegan lifestyle isn’t a simple transition for everyone, where someone might be able to completely cut meat products out of their lives overnight, some might require more guidance. This could mean consumers turning to the companies they’re loyal to, to supply plant-based alternatives for their favourite existing products. Vegan products are nothing new, however, with a higher demand for meat alternatives many non-vegan brands are producing plant-based products and taking advantage of the potential for huge profits. The ethical debate here is should we be boycotting or backing these products?
Like most debate questions, the answer is never black or white. There are both pros and cons of buying plant-based products from big corporations. Boycotting could be done individually or as a larger group or community. In contrast, buycotting described by Friedman (1999) involves giving preference to specific products or services based on moral consideration. Giving consumers the chance to individually decided not to purchase and avoid a product for moral reasons. As well as individuals joining organised boycotts and buycotts set by social trends and organisations.
Pros
- Making vegan products more accessible
Let’s face it veganism hasn’t always had a good reputation in the past, it’s had a reputation for being a restrictive lifestyle, instead of replacing products, vegans were just cutting products out of their diet. Now with more choices for plant-based products and meat alternatives vegans aren’t just “eating rabbit food”. With large companies such as Heinz, Ben and Jerry’s, Hellmann’s and even KFC offering meat alternatives it has made it easier for vegans to purchase vegan friendly products and making it easier for them to dine out.
- Raising awareness
The most important part of any cause is getting the word out there in order to create change. With non-vegan companies such as Mcdonalds, Richmond and Nestle unveiling their plant-based products across their social media platforms, especially during the beginning of the year (veganuary) more and more people begin talking about it.
According to Google Trends, the search for "vegan" was the highest toward the end of 2018 and because of this people are more aware of plant-based products and vegan lifestyles. Where many plant-based products are gathered in one section in a supermarket, some companies have strategically decided to placed their products among the meat and dairy aisles too, with the intention of targeting non-vegans, flexitarians and vegetarians.
Cons
- Company may not be selling vegan products for the right reasons: direct opposition to vegan values
For non-vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians vegan values may not be that important when purchasing plant-based products. However, for people that follow a stricter vegan lifestyle may be making more conscience decisions when looking for a plant-based product to purchase. They might be looking at the companies values, whether they are a vegan companies with non vegan parent companies, whether the companies values align with those of veganism and whether the company selling these products are doing so purely based on profit.
- Taking away from smaller vegan companies
There are many smaller independent companies that solely sell vegan products, however due to convenience as well as the price of said products we tend to bypass them in the supermarket and go for well-known brands without a second thought. According to YouGov only 2% of the UK define themselves as Vegan(2022). This means that the demand for vegan products might not be as high in demand as we initially think. With so many plant-based products in supermarkets non vegans are more likely to pick from non vegan brands instead of supporting smaller independent companies which might not be available in our local supermarkets. These companies depend on consumers to support them and promote their products to others through word of mouth and on social media.
So should we boycott or support non-vegan brands? At the end of the day it’s up to each individual to make this decision. In reality, there is no “correct” way to consume plant-based foods. that being said, if you are leaning towards a more vegan lifestyle then opting for a vegan specific company with vegan values may be a better option, however if you're a flexitarian or a non vegan then it solely depends on why you are choosing plant based products in the first place.
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism
Friedman, M.(1999). Consumer boycotts:effecting change through the marketplace and the media. New York/London: Routledge.
https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=GB&q=Vegan
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