Neither fish, flesh nor fowl: what's the thinking behind those go vegan posters?

[link to www.irishtimes.com]

A new pro-vegan campaign aimed at making people think about their “lifestyle choices” is turning heads - but can it change entrenched notions about the plant-based approach?

Compassionate living

The emphasis of the ad campaign is to promote compassionate living without sacrifice. “Being vegan is not an act of charity. It is an act of social justice,” says campaign organiser Sandra Higgins. Some find this viewpoint extreme, particularly in world where the smiling, tranquil faces of farmyard animals beam out at us from packaging. But the capacity of cows to grin heartily while winking is, of course, an anthropomorphic fantasy beloved of the dairy industry, Worse still, milk and egg production also involve slaughter on a daily basis. These foodstuffs are not merely benign by-products of meat consumption.

Predictably, dismissing veganism has become as cool as veganism. Animal-rights activists are often criticised for championing social justice while being neglectful of the conditions of poorly paid producers. The alternative diet is also vastly more accessible to the privileged classes, which some see as a hip new variety of classism.
But vegans understand that there are no neutral actions, and are keenly receptive to the concept of living wages and fair-trade production, perhaps even more so than the those who criticise their lifestyle.

Meanwhile, despite the rising popularity of, and growing corporate awareness about veganism, many sections of the catering industry in Ireland still respond to vegans with confusion. For clarity: gluten-free foods are not "kind-of the same thing", fish are definitely “valid” animals, and coconut milk is made from coconuts, not milk. These are basic principles, and restaurant owners would do well to embrace them before the new wave of billboard-reading vegans are shown to their tables.

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GO VEGAN!