The Animal Industries

1127: 

As soon as they run an ad on TV, it either looks tacky or desperate.  I notice they’re now plugging staples like milk, eggs and meat, that once didn’t need to be advertised at all.  With advertising gimmicks to dress up their products, they endeavour to stay in business.  And the bottom line is, they’re safe so far, for they know they have a powerfully addictive product on their hands.  It still sells.

         

But it’s a tired product.  It’s on the nose ethically (because conditions on farms are both unhygienic and uncaring) and nutritionally.  That would be a big turn-off for many customers.

         

Most people are good natured, well intentioned and want to do ‘the right thing’.  Most of us want to be seen as intelligent and humane.  The trouble is though, that that clashes with the deliciousness of foods made with animal products - in their quest to sell as much of their stuff as possible they’ve invented a vast number of foods which use liberal amounts of animal-based ingredients.  But it is also known that all these animal products are associated with obesity and illness as well as animal cruelty.

It comes down to a question of trust; can one risk consorting with the Industry?  Can one trust one’s own judgement on this matter? If their products were above suspicion, we wouldn’t be seeing so much over-the-top advertising.  And, like most people, we all want to believe that we think for ourselves, that we make our own decisions when it comes to food.  We all want to feel as though we are in control of our lives.

But also, we can’t deny ourselves what we want.  Perhaps the child in me still wants things that aren’t good for me, knowing that there are powerfully-tempting products out there.

You can almost hear the inner thoughts of the consumer, “I know that I still want what I shouldn’t buy, but I can’t help myself - because this stuff is addictive.  I know I’m not being told the truth, I guess I’m risking my health, even dicing with death or trashing my ethics whenever I go shopping”.  Nevertheless, the shopping trolley is still piled up with an array of animal products, expensive but exciting.

Whenever an animal product is sold it lets the Industry get away with murder, literally.  Vegetarians have broken that grip.  They don’t want these products anymore.  And vegans certainly let out a big sigh of relief to be free of all of it, especially when a growing number of well qualified scientists point out the diseases associated with animal-based foods.  Our criticisms of these junk foods is justified and we feel vindicated, when we see TV footage of the grim conditions on factory farms.  We can feel grateful that plant-based foods seem so attractive to us.

Around the world things are slowly changing, quickly in some parts.  For instance, in UK, amongst young adults, vegetarianism has risen from less than a few percent two decades ago to over 25% now.  And in Britain, parts of Europe and in USA, veganism is not uncommon, nor is the up-front labelling saying “suitable for vegans”.  So, on the food front things seem to be looking up.  However, philosophically the world has a very long way to go before the majority see the need for animal liberation.