Home / L. Attacks on veganism and vegans / Part IND
"Veganism is just a fad diet"
a diet is what you eat for health, looks or taste. Veganism is an ethical position: the refusal, as far as is possible and practicable, to exploit animals, in food, clothing, entertainment and testing. Calling it a fad swaps the question "is it fair?" for the question "is it popular?", and an idea's popularity says nothing about whether it's right.
Short answer
A diet is what you eat for health or looks. Veganism is an ethical position: not exploiting animals, in food, clothing and everything else. The word was coined in 1944, and the idea of not killing animals for food is thousands of years old. And even if it became a fad, that would say nothing about whether it's right. The abolition of slavery was once "the fashionable cause" too.
For children
A fad is when lots of people wear certain clothes or eat a certain food because everyone else is. Being vegan is something else: it's not wanting animals to suffer because of us. It's like not bullying. It isn't a fad; it's a choice about how to treat others. And even if it were a fad, not mistreating animals would still be a good idea.
"If it stopped being trendy tomorrow, would anything change about what happens to the animals?"
Como pode aparecer
"Veganism is just a fad diet."
"It's a trend for rich people."
"Another influencer diet."
"It'll pass, like low carb."
"Veganism is a cult, a religion." (which is L2)
"Most vegans give up." (which is L10)
The strongest version
"Veganism is a trend. In a few years nobody will remember it, like the cabbage soup diet."
Strongest version (steelman):
- P1The number of vegans and vegan products has grown rapidly, driven by social media, celebrities and marketing.
- P2Trends driven by marketing and social media tend to be fleeting.
- CSo veganism is a passing fad, not something to take seriously.
P1 is true, and many people do adopt a plant-based diet for health or looks, with no concern for animals.
The argument isn't valid for the conclusion that matters: even if the popularity faded, that wouldn't show the ethical position is wrong.
Full answer
- a
Reconstruction and diagnosis
The argument mixes up two things:
What gets called veganism What it is Can it be a fad? A plant-based diet A consumption pattern Yes, sometimes Veganism An ethical position against animal exploitation Popularity doesn't decide whether it's right - b
Where the argument breaks
1. Veganism isn't a diet.
The Vegan Society's definition speaks of excluding, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of and cruelty to animals, for food, clothing or any other purpose. Someone who eats only plants for their looks, but wears leather and goes to rodeos, follows a plant-based diet, not veganism. On the debate around the definition itself, see The definition of veganism, debated.
2. It isn't new.
The word "vegan" was coined in 1944 by Donald Watson and other founders of the Vegan Society. Refusing to kill animals for food appears in traditions such as Jainism and in thinkers such as Pythagoras and Plutarch.
3. Popularity isn't a criterion of truth.
Whether veganism became a fad or went out of fashion, the animals would go on suffering just the same. The moral question doesn't change (an appeal to popularity, in reverse).
4. If the word were only a diet, the position would need another name.
The term exists precisely to distinguish the ethical position from the menu.
- c
Data and sources
Source What it says Note The Vegan Society, definition of veganism Defines veganism as a philosophy and way of living against animal exploitation The official definition from the organization that coined the term Questão de Ética, vol. IV, ch. 3 Distinguishes veganism, an ethical position, from a diet The main source for this chapter - d
The strongest counter-reply: many people are vegan only as a fad
The most serious version says that in practice many people who call themselves vegan join because of a trend, without conviction, which is why they give up (L10). Real veganism would be a minority, and the rest a fad.
- e
Why the counter-reply doesn't reach the conclusion
That's about the people, not the position.
If someone joins a just cause as a fad, the cause doesn't stop being just.
The same goes for any cause.
Many people support campaigns against racism or for the environment because it's trendy. That doesn't make them wrong.
It's an argument about adherence.
Those who give up don't refute the ethical argument; they just don't follow it.
- f
Back to the moral question
Calling veganism a fad is a way of not discussing it. Setting aside who is vegan and why, the question remains: is it fair to make animals suffer and die when we don't need to?
Reasoning errors
Logical
Is the form valid?
Straw man
Appeal to popularity
Ad hominem
Biases
Status quo bias
The dominant habit seems permanent; change seems fleeting
General literature
Extrapolations
The principle being tested is: "if an idea is popular right now, it's just a fad and needn't be taken seriously".
If it applied to…Women's rightsTap to see
They'd be a fad in periods of greater mobilization
No one accepts this today
If it applied to…RecyclingTap to see
It would be a fad, not a response to a real problem
Contrary to the evidence
If it applied to…VeganismTap to see
It would be a fad
This is the argument's conclusion
Contradictions
But veganism includes clothing, entertainment and testing.
And the idea is thousands of years old.
And follows consumer habits that were also created by marketing.
What the argument gets right
What is true
There is indeed a marketing wave around "plant-based" products, and many people adopt a plant-based diet for looks or health, with no connection to animals. It's also true that some of this adherence is fleeting.
But
But that describes the market, not the ethical position. The question about the animals existed before the fad and will go on existing after it.
Connections
Usually comes before
Usually comes after
Go deeper in Questão de Ética
Chapters from the open-access collection A Journey Through Animal Ethics that discuss this argument in more detail:
- What Is Veganism? Vol. IV, ch. 3