Should We Promote Vegan Celebrities?

EquALLity · Post by **EquALLity** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 6:23 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Q9W1vf0cs

Opinions?

brimstoneSalad · Post by **brimstoneSalad** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 6:41 pm

I agree it's probably of marginal, or at least very unclear, utility.
Most (not all) people who would go vegan because of celebrities are following fads, but some of them might still learn more about it in the process and stay vegan for other reasons. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, although if you have an elevator pitch to make, I wouldn't focus on the appeal to celebrities, but rather on the logical arguments (which won't change in a few months).

I don't think I've seen that channel before. Is she on the forum?

EquALLity · Post by **EquALLity** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 6:46 pm

Hm, yeah, that sounds reasonable.

No, she isn't (well, as far as I know). That would be awesome, though.

brimstoneSalad · Post by **brimstoneSalad** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:11 pm

You should invite her. Unless she has her own forums and that would be a conflict of interest.

EquALLity · Post by **EquALLity** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:13 pm

She doesn't have any I know of, and none come up when I do a search. What do you think I should I say, and how?

Maybe a comment like, "Discussing this here! (forum link)"?

brimstoneSalad · Post by **brimstoneSalad** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:24 pm

EquALLity wrote: Maybe a comment like, "Discussing this here!"?

Sounds good.

EquALLity · Post by **EquALLity** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:26 pm

^Alright, done.

unnatural vegan · Post by **unnatural vegan** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:37 pm

Hello.

EquALLity · Post by **EquALLity** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:44 pm

Oh my.^

Wasn't expecting that!

Hah, the tofu sandwich...

brimstoneSalad · Post by **brimstoneSalad** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:06 pm

unnatural vegan wrote:Hello.

Hi unnatural vegan! Welcome! I hope you like it here.

I thought of one case of celebrity promotion that's useful: stereotype breaking.
Athletes are particularly useful for that.
Although the mountains of actual science should be plenty to debunk claims of well planned vegan diets being inadequate, the layman grasps concepts better with examples/counterexamples to preconceptions than reason.

Regarding the example you gave, singers (the celebrity you were talking about is a singer right?) don't really break any stereotypes since I don't think anybody is spreading misconceptions about vegans being unable to sing, so those particular types of celebrities may be less useful to cite (unless it's to argue that it can be trendy, but I don't think that's a very sustainable argument).

I agree about the pseudoscience promotion; I don't think that's useful for veganism to be hitched to, explicitly or implicitly.
The non-gmo/organic/homeopathic etc. side is particularly troubling.

EquALLity wrote:Wasn't expecting that!

Hah, the tofu sandwich...

I was.

Tofu sandwiches are actually pretty good, but much better with toasted/grilled bread, so you get a mix of crunchy and soft.
I'll just eat the tofu directly sometimes, particularly if it's freshly made.