Vegan Outreach Literature
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I’ll admit, the first time I read Why Vegan? I cringed.
I reacted much like Corey Wrenn.
Even the cover statement, “Boycott Cruelty” annoyed me.
I hate to see veganism portrayed as a boycott. Boycotts are temporary, targeted, one-time affairs designed to encourage producers to change. Boycotts are not an expression of an ideology. Boycotts are not a way of life. Boycotts are not how to accurately describe veganism.
But the fact is, most people don’t know that. Most people don’t care.
In most cases, defining veganism as a boycott either a) helps people go vegan or b) doesn’t hinder their transition to veganism.
Like Ms. Wrenn, I have complaints about the Vegan Outreach literature. However, those complaints are tempered by the realization – from my own personal leafleting experiences – that VO literature works better than other literature.
I’m not sure why they work better. It could be the perceived value of the pamphlets: they’re thick and colorful and thus there’s probably guilt associated with throwing them away. It could be that the leaflets are filled with photos, statistics, and reliable sources, which are persuasive. I could be that these booklets use fairly simple language, not legalese or GRE words. It could be that these booklets fit in with the worldview of non-vegans who view veganism as difficult and extreme, thus cannot be discarded and ignored easily. Regardless of the reason, the VO pamphlets really do seem to work better than other vegan pamphlets currently available. They help create new vegans.
I’m not going to claim that the VO pamphlets can’t be improved, they can. I’m not going to say I approve of every word or every little detail, I don’t. But I will say that the VO pamphlets have a lot going for them. And until I make my own pamphlets that are even better, I’ll use the ones from Vegan Outreach. I hope you will, too.
Thanks so much for this post. I think the criticisms in the examiner post by Corey Wrenn need to be viewed with some caution. For one thing, some of them focused on materials that are no longer distributed by Vegan Outreach. Also, as you note, the booklets work, and isn’t that what it’s all about? Why would someone waste time criticizing materials that get people to go vegan?! I support Vegan Outreach simply because they are effective and they are sophisticated in their activism.
I wrote more about VO on my examiner post today: http://www.examiner.com/x-5670-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m9d10-Best-animal-rights-organizations-for-vegan-activists
The Boston Vegan Association has a wonderful, colourful pamphlet called Respecting Animals Means Going Vegan.
Here’s the link: http://bostonvegan.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=354&Itemid=126
It’s only available through a grant process, but it’s worth checking out.
Given that the VO pamphlets are desperately in need of revising, I would avoid them all together. Out of all the crap out there, they are one of the better ones, but more appropriate ones are popping up. The Boston Vegan Association has just released one that is very comparable without the ethical misgivings.
The Boston pamphlets are great, however they are not suitable for a large mainstream audience. They require both more time and more education than the Vegan Outreach pamphlets. For a bit more info on that, please read this: http://www.vegansoapbox.com/readability-rights/