The Animal Industries are on the wane

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Apart from the cool-dude ads for burgers, chicken wraps and fast food outlets, the general promotion of meat and dairy seems a bit desperate. Once, these staples didn’t need to be advertised at all, but now milk, eggs and meat have to be dressed up to counter the alternatives which are meat-free and plant-based.

However, animal products are still widely used since they have such a firm footing in people’s psyches.  They are so traditionally thought of as ‘real’ food. And they seem to be quite addictive. It seems that  people know no other way of imagining meals without using them.

But, the writing is on the wall – gradually these products are being questioned, both for nutritional and ethical reasons. Conditions on farms are causing concern not only because of the cruelty going on there but because they are unhygienic places housing large numbers of unhealthy animals.  The use of sick animals for human food is a big turn-off for many customers these days.  And then there’s the close association between animal-based foods and obesity, heart disease and even cancer – perhaps this is the biggest turn-off of all.

But the struggle most people have is with their inner child, who wants the foods and confections known from childhood, and it’s a powerful, tempting wanting too.  It affects us all, this nostalgia and yearning for things we want but know aren’t doing us much good.  Apart from the health implications, we know we’re dicing with our own ethics whenever we go food shopping.  And that, whenever we succumb to buying an animal product, we help the Industry get away with murder, literally.  Vegans have broken that grip, if only because we no longer want these products anymore.

Not least of the reasons why some of us now find plant-based foods attractive, is that we aren’t being lured into ingesting dangerous substances.  And that means we don’t have to be scared by what a growing number of well qualified scientists are telling us about the diseases associated with animal foods.  By our not being tempted this way, we aren’t feeling the shame of being linked with the grim conditions on factory farms, that we know from having seen TV footage.  It doesn’t surprise me that in countries where a new fashion is taking over, it's young people who are first to wise up, who are taking the lead. 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 USA, veganism is not an unfamiliar concept, nor is it unusual to see on product labelling, “suitable for vegans”.

If the Animal Industries are beginning to feel the pinch, and being compelled to design bigger and better advertising campaigns to promote their product, it probably means that veganism isn’t far off becoming fashionable, at least amongst the ‘savvy people’.