Parent companies who arent 'vegan'

[Christina1]

I too try to buy from smaller companies and smaller brand names. And I do this a lot.

Another person here who does this.
While I do believe that supporting organic versions and veg*an versions of food helps with supply and demand and means that there will be more of those options, I also try and spend my dollars wisely. Even when I wasn't vegan I avoided buying from brands whose parent company tested on animals, I always knew I was very against that. I think that everyone has to have their line in the sand and choose when it is and isn't okay for them to cross it and not put those pressures on the people around them. "To Each Their Own" to an extent. People come around in their own time, and sometimes funds just don't allot for being able to spend more money on the smaller brand companies. For instance my line in the sand also is that I won't purchase anything that contains corn or soy if they don't come from an organic source, there are too many GMOs out there and there has been some research out of a lab in Germany that well...scares the f*** out of me! Really makes you scratch your chin at our generation's fertility problems, but that's a whole other post!!

It's times like these that I feel so lucky to work at an organic market where not only do I have plenty of options around me, I also can order things in bulk for cheaper individual pricing, and I also have influence over what we carry since I'm the manager (and the owner refers to me as "her daughter" we're so close). The owner trusts me to pick items that will sell well and come from a great source so we carry many items by smaller companies.

 

[mary1]

You shouldn't let random vegans on forums make you feel bad! Ignore them. Go find a better group!

Besides, I don't know who all the people who hang out on vegan forums and things online are (except for me of course!) but the vegan online community, and the vegan real life communities I have met, just don't add up to being the same people. The impression I get, as a whole, from all the vegans I've met IRL (which now is quite a few since I've been part of vegan societies and such), is completely different and is completely without the judgment you can get, or that gets implied, online. Which is odd, but it helps put things in perspective. It does for me anyway.

(Sorry that was a bit off topic)

People are more opinionated online than in real life I think. It's that illusion of anonymity.

 

[PTree15]

I don't see it as "taking veganism further" to avoid parent companies. I think buying vegan products from non-vegan companies is a really good thing, I don't see it as a negative. Big companies own almost everything, and by big companies creating vegan products it makes vegan products affordable and widely and easily available.

The more affordable and available vegan products are, the less veganism will seem extreme and will be difficult for people to follow, the less people will give up on veganism and see it as too extreme, and the more veganism will seem normal - in the same way vegetarianism is in the UK now. Furthermore, this means that non-vegans will regularly consume vegan products, and enjoy them. If this leads them to veganism great, but if it doesn't, well that's great too.

Big companies and parent companies will have fingers in many pies, and most of them wont be vegan. I can't see anything worse about Body Shop being owned by L'Oreal, than Sainsburys selling meat and dairy - and countless products tested on animals. If anything, Body Shop seems more ethical to me since the store itself is vegetarian and not tested on animals and doesn't sell animal products or things tested on animals, unlike Sainsburys or 99% of shops.

I can't see what is to be gained by avoiding ethical products that are produced by non ethical companies. I WANT as many companies as possible to produce ethical products.

This is pretty much my take. I get overwhelmed/angry when I think about how many big companies take over cruelty-free smaller companies/businesses. I think someone else said that the only way to avoid the big companies is to pretty much live very simply, grow your own food, etc. At least some of these big corporations are recognizing a market for cruelty-free products (yeah, profits are the bottom line, I know ). I still try to buy from smaller vegan-only places, if/when I can find them.