Veganism Enters the MainstreamNick Pendergrast

Veganism 1944: Donald Watson coined the term

“vegan” and set up The Vegan Society, after unsuccessfully attempting to form a non-dairy section of the Vegetarian Society.

1951: The Vegan Society extended the definition of veganism to be far more all-encompassing than just a diet.

Claims Making Vegan advocates are one example of claim

makers. An important sociological concept in

understanding social movements and social change.

‘Claim makers are people who articulate and promote claims’ and their cause is benefited ‘in some way if the targeted audience accepts their claims as true’ (Ferrante 2011, p. 178).

Vegan Advocates: Three Main Claims

Veganism for Animal Rights Alternative eg activist websites –

mainstream sources eg BBC and The Guardian (Victor Schonfeld), The New York Times (Gary Steiner), ABC and The Sydney Morning Herald (Katrina Fox).

Public “ready” to discuss veganism.

Bobby Calves

Animals Australia in many major newspapers around Australia.

7PM Project (start-1.00, 3.00-end).

Not specifically a vegan campaign, but raised awareness of problems beyond meat.

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/bobby-calf-cruelty-exposed-on-tv.php

Google Trends

Link.

For the environment

Veganism

Animal Agriculture and the Environment Livestock’s Long Shadow

(FAO of the UN): 18% greenhouse gases.

World Watch Institute: 51% greenhouse gases.

From The Guardian: ‘A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today.’

FOR HealthVeganism

Health, Celebrities and Media Attention

Attracting media attention for claims is an important strategy in successful claims-making.

Celebrities contribute authority and attention to a cause.

‘The Rise of the Power Vegans’ ‘The Rise of the Power

Vegans’ in Bloomberg Businessweek: famous businessperson Steve Wynn; American business magnate and third richest person in hip hop – Russell Simmons; real estate billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman; Ford Executive Chairman of the Board Bill Ford; Twitter co-founder Biz Stone; Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey; Mike Tyson; and Bill Clinton.

‘[Timothy] Bradley’s Vegan Diet Not New Amongst Athletes’ in The Daily Enquirer.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/bill-clintons-vegan-diet-inspiring-14344849

Conclusion Vegan diet enters the mainstream. Claims made by vegan advocates have been

increasingly successful: Received mainstream media attention. Coverage has not merely reported on the claims of

vegan advocates, but similar claims have been made quite separately to the animal advocacy movement.

Likely to have increased the perceived legitimacy of these claims.

N.Pendergrast@curtin.edu.au www.ProgressivePodcastAustralia.com