Vegan/ Vegetarian Not For Ethnics?

[mecca360]

I work for a “Company” (who shall remain nameless) that is very involved in Veganism. Now, I am one of only 5 black people who work here. (in this location) Within the “company” as a whole I would say only 2% of the employess are “colored” (meaning latino, middle eastern and black). They do MANY campaigns to convert the public and they have one website in particular. The issue with that is the fact that this website is directed at the ‘alternative, punk rock, “rage against the machine”, demographic. (White or otherwise.. those who listen to that genre of music)
When I started working here, after about 3 months I heard of the website that was created to target a ‘multi-ethnic demographic. This site was created about……. 2 years ago. No one was even assigned to work on this site. Up until a certain point they were doing VERY well. Although all of theses things are almost 2 years old…. They seemed to be on the right track.
One day I heard, through office talk, that they had hired someone specifically for this site. I was elated!!!! I was even more elated when I found out that she was a sistah!!!!!! No I am not the type to complain and not do anything about it, after this girl had been working here for 6 months and I still had not seen even the smallest update to the website, I made a few polite suggestions. (artists coming to the area, influential black or ethnic individuals that I found out to be either vegan or vegetarian) No change has been noted yet. Patience is a virtue so hopefully one day they can get it together…

So what’s my issue????

Well, I believe in the cause, but at the same time I am not motivated to do any endorsing on behalf of the “company” due to the fact that it appears that the ‘multi-ethnic’ demographic is not important to the “company”. The other site that they have has a total of 67 people who are tasked to work on it in some way or another. I continue to advocate Veganism/ Vegetarianism on my own with people I come into contact with. I do participate in other company functions. There is no possible way that they can make an effective amount of progress with only one person working on a campaign to attempt to speak directly to millions of ethnic people!!! I would not say that I am angry, but I am SEVERELY disappointed!

What can I do to make an attempt to have them understand that there are A LOT of people that they are not reaching?????

[China]

You kinda gave away the Company's name when you mentioned the artists names.

Have you tried speaking with your boss about your concerns?

[mecca360]

You kinda gave away the Company's name when you mentioned the artists names.

Have you tried speaking with your boss about your concerns?
[/b]

Yes I have, but short of using her advice to make suggestions, there is not much she can do. She has brought it up in manager meetings, but it seems to fall on deaf ears.... i work in another department that does not really get involved with the inner working of the campaigns...

[emerald06]

Similar to the "White alternative" avenue, maybe you can bring to their attention different ethnic niche groups. There are MANY black people and others who belong to non-traditional religions that advocate healthy diet. You could also go the natural route as well.

I don't know your company, but there's also info out there about soul vegetarian dishes. Maybe you can bring that to their attention too.

We&#39;re not all "urban". Good luck to you. Personally, I&#39;d like to see this targeted towards our community rather than Big Macs and KFC. <_<

[Mae]

Similar to the "White alternative" avenue, maybe you can bring to their attention different ethnic niche groups. There are MANY black people and others who belong to non-traditional religions that advocate healthy diet. You could also go the natural route as well.

I don&#39;t know your company, but there&#39;s also info out there about soul vegetarian dishes. Maybe you can bring that to their attention too.

We&#39;re not all "urban". Good luck to you. Personally, I&#39;d like to see this targeted towards our community rather than Big Macs and KFC. <_<
[/b]

I guess I would just add that their are at least a few "urban" artists who are vegitarians...I do beleive Nas is, and Russell Simmons....plenty of us "urban" folks are as well...I was born and raised vegitarian, and many of the member of my church, which has branches in Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, and South Carolina, are veggies as well....not really quite sure what "urban" has to do with it....greens and hip hop can go together!!

[emerald06]

I guess I would just add that their are at least a few "urban" artists who are vegitarians...I do beleive Nas is, and Russell Simmons....plenty of us "urban" folks are as well...I was born and raised vegitarian, and many of the member of my church, which has branches in Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, and South Carolina, are veggies as well....not really quite sure what "urban" has to do with it....greens and hip hop can go together!!
[/b]

I agree with you. I used "urban" in quotation marks because it&#39;s an advertising catch-all, as if we are all a monolith. Like you said, there are many prominent hip-hop artists who are vegetarians and some are vegan or vegetarian for religious reasons. My intent wasn&#39;t to offend, merely to point out that there&#39;s not one black market.

[NewLocs]

Similar to the "White alternative" avenue, maybe you can bring to their attention different ethnic niche groups. There are MANY black people and others who belong to non-traditional religions that advocate healthy diet. You could also go the natural route as well.

I don&#39;t know your company, but there&#39;s also info out there about soul vegetarian dishes. Maybe you can bring that to their attention too.

We&#39;re not all "urban". Good luck to you. Personally, I&#39;d like to see this targeted towards our community rather than Big Macs and KFC. <_<

[/b]


You ain&#39;t nevah lied about the bold part. They make it seem as if we have never eaten an apple.
Jumping off my soapbox....

[Nappilocs]

I can make a good guess on which company you work for based on your location and I do agree that they should target other ethnic markets. I am thinking that maybe you should bring the lack of education in other ethnic groups to thier attention and suggest that they create ads that specifically target that group. like somoene said, there quite a few African American celebrity vegetarians/ vegans that they could probably use to help out..

[Nina]

I know a looooooot of "ethnic&#39; vegetarians and vegans.

I stopped eating pork when I was 13, but I&#39;m probably a back-sliding vegetarian if that.

I find that my body needs (craves) an occassional steak around that time of the month. We eat seafood and poultry but still only eat meat like 4 or 5 times a month max. No processed foods, absolutely zero fast foods (yuuuck!) and limited dairy products.

[Scribetastic]

That&#39;s a difficult one. I was a vegitarian in college. However, I backslid because being an insulin dependent diabetic (type I or juvenile diabetic) simply makes me bitter. I have enough of avoiding sweets or having to use sugar substitutes that I decided that I wouldn&#39;t continue to cut out meat. Now I just lean more towards raw and organic foods, but I do include meat in my diet.

I think one issue is them recognizing that there is an ethnic market for healthier food. Statistically speaking, we suffer from more nutrition related disease (non-insulin dependent (type II) diabetes, heart conditions, cancer, strokes, etc.) right there I see a market (and a need) for better nutrition options.

Like you posted, it seems like they&#39;re thinking of us all in a bubble of low-income ethnic consumers who simply don&#39;t have the income or access to the information. Well, we know we&#39;re all not the same, and we also know that in the low income demographic people want to eat healthy too. Also, it just might be reality that for now the ethnic market would look more favorably towards healthier options which didn&#39;t completely exclude meat as a choice. That&#39;s prima facie in conflict with a company that promotes veganism.

However, I do believe there is an ethnic market that would embrace a vegan lifestyle. They just have to find the will and a way to market to the ethnic niche in a way to resonates to us. I think linking it to health and lifestyle improvement issues would be one way to do it.