Vegan celebs: trend setters or wack jobs?
Reading this article about the recent vegan accomplishments of Stella McCartney, Natalie Portman, and Heather Mills, I started thinking about the intersection of celebrity and vegetarianism/veganism. Specifically, what does news about vegan celebrities do for the image of veganism?
On one hand, celebrities are often seen as trend setters and thought leaders. Celebrity endorsements get people to buy stuff, so why wouldn’t they get someone to try a new diet?
But on the other hand, not all things popular amongst the rich and famous are seen in a positive light. Scientology, purse-sized dogs, and going pantiless for the paparazzi aren’t exactly gaining popularity amongst the masses just because some celebs are doing it. Does veganism come off as another wacky thing that people with too much money pick up?
What do you think? Are celebrities helping or hurting the vegan cause?
It’s a double edged sword, isn’t it? On one hand, celebrities bring awareness to causal issues, and that can only be good. But, then, their particular take on it is sometimes, well, a little wacky. And that’s the last thing vegetarianism and other, related, causes need.
You almost need a score card, don’t you?
Cheers!
Why do I care what a celebrity eats? If I hear about a celebrity being vegetarian it is usually because they do something radical like appear in a PETA add. That tends to make me think less of them.
Being a vegetarian if you want. Speak well of it. But try to avoid sounding preachy.
Unfortunately, when we hear celebrity today it all to often means someone like Brittany or Paris or some other wack job. This makes all celebrity endorsements look like publicity seeking.
With that said, they fit in with PETA and most radical vegans in acting more for the notoriety than for any meaningful commitment to any cause.
“Wack job”? Wow. It never ceases to amaze me how much farther we have to go.
This is a great post, Jul! Very insightful. When I made the choice to go vegetarian (and vegan with my clothes, products, etc.), I couldn’t have named one celebrity who was a vegetarian/vegan if my life depended on it. So, I can safely say that, in addition to my decision to always make sure I left the house with panties on, my decision to go veg was uninfluenced.
However, I read a story once about how Joaquin Phoenix refused to wear leather shoes for some designer’s photo shoot – can’t remember who the designer was, nor can I give a source for the story, but it indeed made me happy.
It sucks when overzealous celebrities turn a good thing into a joke; at the same time, when what WE feel about something is so influenced by what celebrities do/think regarding that “something,” it’s time to pause and re-evaluate ourselves.
I always just think of Moby. He’s a funny guy, so I guess that made vegan cool to me. I ignore most celebs though.
‘And Moby, you could get stomped by Obie’…couldn’t help but think of Eminem at mention of Moby.
Perry Farrell is probably wackiest vegan out there, and, thus, I think he is great, though I guess I also see the larger picture and realize that a zany vegan frontman may not be good for missionary branding. Then again, I wonder, are we on the brink of mass acceptance of craziness via the geek-is-cool conduit?
We shall see.
Eminem isn’t still picking on Moby is he?
‘Twas a 2002 song, ‘Without Me’, with Eminem’s reply to Moby accusing him of being racist and misogynistic.
I think Moby got the better of this exchange in principal, but Eminem just makes one laugh more.
I think I will refine a question:
Are we on the verge of mass acceptance of eccentricity and uniqueness because of the geek-is-cool resonation?
I think the issue lies less with celebrity vegans and more with WHICH celebrities are vegan. I think it comes down to class. If a trashy celebrity is vegan and screams it from the rooftops, it’s more off-putting than if a respected celebrity does it. Compare someone like Paris or Lindsay going vegan to someone like Cate Blanchette or Gwyneth Paltrow going vegan – which one lends a better face to the cause? Dennis Kucinich could go either way…
two words
Natalie Portman
She is THE BEST- very down to earth and she just came out with a line of vegan shoes!
http://www.tecasan.com/Content.aspx?Page=Designer_info&Designer=natalie
she can do no wrong in my book
teddy
Thanks so much for sharing that, Teddy
Shoes are a bit out of my price range, but finding out about this site and what she’s doing is good news nonetheless!
My husband and I actually became vegetarian after watching a few episodes of “The Two Coreys.” (feel free to laugh
Feldman and his wife are vegetarians and it came up in the show a few times. It sparked a conversation between my husband and I that led to us reducing, then eliminating meat from our kitchen.
I think celebs should just live their life as they desire and support whatever causes they want. The rest of us need to be responsible enough to be able to critically examine those lifestyles and decide for ourselves what is right — not use celebs as an excuse to embrace or snub a cause.
Dana – that’s too funny – I didn’t even know there was a show with the two Coreys!