Hello and welcome back to Eight Years In. If you’re new here, welcome! Recently, I talked about vegan activism on this site, reflecting on the two schools of thought and ultimately landing more on the side of attractivism. You can find that post here, if you’d like to catch up.

Attractivism, an honest look

   Today, I wanted to dive further into attractivism. While I said in the other post that attractivism doesn’t have that large backfiring potential that traditional, more confrontational vegan activism does, that kind of oversimplifies my position a little bit. 

   The fact is, attractivism, done improperly, can and does often backfire. And today, we’re going to talk about how. It’s an important read for those of us who are looking to be more effective in our activism, so read on!

What is attractivism?

   So when we say attractivism, we’re talking about efforts to make personal change due to a specific issue more attractive. In this case, we’re looking at veganism specifically. 

   Someone following an attractivist vegan approach (instead of an activist one) will focus on giving people good associations with veganism, rather than trying to open their eyes to the horrors of the animal agriculture industry and the negative aspects of nonveganism. 

   For example, they might cook and share some of their favorite foods with others to show them that vegan food can be tasty. Or they might try to keep their health in tip top shape to be an example of a healthy vegan for others who might otherwise be convinced that you can’t go vegan and be healthy. 

The good part

   I think attractivism has many merits, especially when we look at it in comparison to the more original brand of vegan activism which tends to be more negative and confrontational. 

   You see, not everyone likes engaging in intellectual debate. Attractivism brings people like that more exposure to veganism in general. And it also bypasses the very strong defensive impulses most feel towards veganism and vegans already. 

   When you’re dealing with people who are very defensive towards veganism, you’re going to do better building positive interactions with veganism than trying to force them to see your way of view and further entrench their already negative opinions towards veganism. And you don’t always know how strong someone’s current sense of defensiveness and cognitive dissonance currently is towards the subject. So for that reason, an attractivist mindset is often the safer way to go. But that doesn’t make it infallible. 

The problem

   I’m not going to talk about vegan conversion rates or how you measure the effectiveness of your activism in this post, although I did mention it briefly in the previous post covering activism. 

   No, I want to talk to you about the very real and possible downside to attractivism. It’s not inherent to the approach, but it can often happen when it is done improperly. And this issue is actually not because of nonvegans, but vegans instead!

Where vegans go wrong

   I think vegans get quite passionate in their communications with others about veganism. This is only natural, when it comes to such an important issue and possibly positive addition to our lives. That being said, it’s important to remain cognizant of the way in which we communicate these issues to people and the expectations that we give them. 

   What I mean is, it’s a very human thing to start making sweeping statements about things we feel passionate about. It’s understandable, but we need to be really careful not to do so with veganism, even if we think that it would be more compelling to nonvegans and cause them to make the switch. 

Do people really do this?

   I’m sure some of you are thinking “do vegans really do this? Is it even possible to overstate the importance of veganism?” Yes it is, and yes people do it. Particularly those who are practicing an attractivist approach. 

   I see people making semi-magical claims about veganism and health. Like you’ll never get sick or have any diseases—in fact, pretty much all health problems are a result of animal consumption and if you’re not vegan you’re doomed to be unhealthy. Or sweeping generalizations about the planet, like how if everyone were to simply go vegan we would live in a perfect, pollution-less panacea (ignoring the fact that we still use way too much plastic etc). These sorts of ideas are not the kind of statements that you want to be making.

Let’s get this straight

   The thing is, you going vegan is not a superpower and will not save the world. I’ve talked about this before in my post “where veganism fails”, which I recommend you read both as a vegan or a nonvegan. There are many misconceptions that we let pass about veganism because we want it to look attractive to prospective vegans. We want people to make more compassionate and responsible choices and we figure that it doesn’t really matter why they make them. But it does matter. 

   Because the fact is, veganism is important. It has a huge factual and statistical basis for people to be convinced by. It is good for the animals, it is good for the planet and it can be really good for our health. You don’t need to make up tall tales about it for it to stand on its own two feet. But when you do, you’re creating a problem. 

Making more vegans

   Let’s say you tell someone that going vegan will make them miraculously healthy. That they’ll start immediately outperforming everyone at their gym, that their skin will become flawless, they’ll get the perfect body with the perfect digestion, and their hair and nails will become strong and gorgeous. They think, “wow, that’s pretty amazing! Of course I want a piece of that!” So they make the decision to go vegan. 

   You’ll feel triumphant because you made a new vegan, they’ll feel like they’re a new special addition to the “vegan club” and everything will be great, at first. But what happens if all of your promises don’t come true because they decide to eat a junk food vegan diet or they’re just…not a superhuman? (Because they might already be fairly healthy even though they’re not vegan. So any immediate health improvements would likely be out of the question.) 

   Well, if this happens, then they’re going to feel lied to and betrayed. Either by you or by the “promises of veganism”, and by extension, by vegans. They will likely go back to not being vegan and now they will be convinced that veganism is bad, even if their experience wasn’t negative, but instead just underdelivered on what they were led to believe.

Reputation matters

   Not to mention that even if the audience you’re talking to doesn’t think anything of what you’re saying, conversations of veganism have a hard time staying contained to two parties. There will be others looking on, whether in social settings or online. Unless you’re in an empty room with only one other person, it’s likely that others are listening. 

   The reason I bring this up is you cannot tailor your message to only one person in the room. Making sensational claims might work to convince one person if they are gullible, game to try anything, or very emotionally led, but it lends you incredibility to others who might be looking on. They will remember what you said, and if it was nonsense, that is how they’re going to regard you and your message, even if your later points hold water. 

   For this reason, it’s important for us vegans to try and be very precise with the points we make and allow others to believe about veganism on our behalf. It is not our responsibility what others may take from other sources, but we need to responsible for the points we do make. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you and start painting exaggerations as truth. 

   It may be true that you experienced an improvement in health since going vegan, for example. I know I certainly did. And that’s great, and you can definitely be honest about that if you’re having a conversation about the merits of veganism. But recognize that not all vegan diets are healthy vegan diets and not everyone becomes exponentially healthier by going vegan, and those who do, don’t necessarily do that right away. Be transparent, honest and pragmatic. 

The bottom line

   I really do think that in many cases, attractivism is the way to go. You can give people a positive outlook on veganism as a lifestyle but by bit, simply by sharing the lovely parts of your life with others. It may not seem like much, but a positive association is a great framework to be building off of you ever want them to consider going vegan in the future. 

   But we need to be clear with people about the abilities and limits of veganism. When we convince people, we want to do it not necessarily for the “right” reasons, but at least reasons that are true and accurate. This is how we create less ex-vegans and a better reputation of veganism in general. Remember, veganism has great factual basis. It can stand on its own two feet. 

   That’s all I had to say for today. Thank you so much for reading my thoughts and sharing them throughout the vegan and vegan-interested community. If you want to hear more from me, be sure to subscribe to the blog for email updates about new posts. And as usual, have an awesome day!