I’m a guilty fan of Alicia Silverstone. I’ve felt bad that she’s taken so many knocks in her career, and I too wonder if Brittany Murphy has a voodoo doll with some strands of Alicia’s hair tucked away somewhere. So her latest effort to restimulate her image, appearing nude in a commercial for PETA to promote the vegan diet, is a bit of an eyebrow raiser for me.
Silverstone is quoted as saying, “Physically, the effect has been amazing,” she said in a statement. “Once I went vegan, I lost the weight I wanted to lose, my nails were stronger and my skin was glowing. I feel great!”
I don’t doubt that the vegan diet has some great health benefits for those whose personal biology is suited to it, but I do question her virtual guarantee that going vegan guarantees a thinner, healthier life. There are two reasons for this: there are plenty of plus vegans who are angered by the whole anti-fat angle that PETA has taken, and there are plenty of vegan ways to eat unhealthy as well - peanut butter and raisins aren’t exactly low calorie, you know.
While I understand the pseudo-subversive reasoning behind PETA’s campaign, it falls flat by disregarding some of its own supporters. Projecting an image of vegans as thin and glamourous, rather than as real people who actually CAN live and eat vegan, will ultimately be counterproductive. Nobody’s as thin and glamorous as Silverstone without the benefit of a personal chef and a personal trainer - if they really want the whole world to go vegan, it would make far more sense to get potbelly schlub on the street demonstrating how your own kitchen can be diy vegan.
If you happen to be looking for some good vegan recipes, check out simplesal on Etsy - her zines have some great vegan tasties in them, whether or not you’re vegan.
Comments
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 8:00 am and is filed under Diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It is because of those types of campaigns that I left PETA in my wake after becoming a vegetarian. Why perpetuate the weakling-vegan stereotype?! It’s infuriating to me, an obese vegetarian. I did think I would lose some weight when I gave up soda, I thought I might drop some poundage when I gave up red meat and fried foods and when I decided to forego meat in any form all together, I thought just maybe the weight loss would come…every time I went without something I lost no weight! In fact, I gained 40 pounds in two years?! WTF?! It’s horrible that PETA keeps at it with this stuff. They even write a letter to Michael Moore insisting that if he became a vegan he’d lose all of his unsightly girth. I’m through with PETA and though I love Alicia Silverstone, I don’t believe she realizes the full impact this campaign will have. Thanks for sharing this.
A lot of vegetarians are actually “junk food-tarians”. After all, pastas, cheese, and cookies are vegetarian! Vegan is a little bit more difficult junk-ify, but I’m sure it’s possible. I’ve been a vegetarian for 8 years and I just started eating vegetables in the past year in an effort lower my carb intake to regulate my insulin. I was a carb-a-holic for a long time. And it’s embarrassing being a fat vegetarian when everyone thinks all you eat is grass.