Monday, March 23, 2009

Burger King and Heather Mills

According to this article, vegan Heather Mills just recently landed herself a deal in which fast food chain Burger King will pay her the whoppin' sum of 4.3 million dollars to promote its "new meat-free burgers". I'm guessing that this isn't the already existing Burger King BK VEGGIE Burger, which is made with Morningstar Farms' Garden Veggie Patties, which in turn contain egg and dairy. I think that the story is fairly new, so it might be a few days before further details come out concerning Burger King's latest product and whether it's just meat-free or altogether animal product-free.


I have seriously mixed feelings about vegans getting behind any business that makes almost all of its profits through the use of animals, even if it's to promote a vegan option. My feelings about it will be a little less mixed if the new burger is in fact yet another non-vegan option, but not by any significant amount. I can't help but think that getting behind someone who profits from animal slaughter's offering an animal-free item is sort of like making a business deal with a company that sells women into sex trade slavery to help them promote their brand new line of anatomically correct dolls. Would promoting the dolls merely increase the business' customer base by attracting people who wouldn't be interested in purchasing a sex slave anyway? Or, is it reasonable to expect that having the option available would actually sway those who have no ethical issues with purchasing a sex slave into opting to purchase the anatomically correct doll instead?

5 comments:

Macneil Shonle said...

When the BK Veggie first came out it actually was vegan. It was a great option to have around when I was making my cross country trip to California (which took five days). The only other place I could reliably eat at would be Subway, and a veggie sandwich with just mustard gets boring after a bit.

So, I was sorry to see the option gone. Overall, I think it's a good thing the mainstream places are jumping on board. I hope for a future where the McDonald's menu is entirely vegan and I can order whatever I want.

Steve said...
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M said...

Asserting any possible pros concerning promoting the BK Veggie "if it's vegan" is pointless, since it isn't vegan.

Furthermore, the Mills camp is now denying the whole story as a false internet rumour. I checked her website and found nothing there either supporting or denying it. Same with the Burger King website.

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/03/24/heather_mills_denies_burger_king_story_b_1

Steve said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
M said...

The story popped up on a couple of news-ish sites and was then circulated on various vegetarian / vegan / animal ethics / green sites and blogs.