Blog: VegNews uses meat pics in vegan articles

To say that I'm disappointed would be putting it mildly:

http://www.quarrygirl.com/2011/04/13/rant-veg-news-is-putting-the-meat-into-vegan-issues/

That's actually..pretty....Disgusting.

I agree with the one comment wholeheartedly about taking a stock picture of a tomato is one thing, but taking a stock picture of a dead baby sheep and pawning it off as vegan shepards pie (Which is delicious!) is just appalling-to say the least.

This little guy makes me feel better though.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2iscked.jpg

Dontcha want to give him a kiss?

To say that I'm disappointed would be putting it mildly:

 

http://www.quarrygirl.com/2011/04/13/rant-veg-news-is-putting-the-meat-into-vegan-issues/

The meat pictures suck, but I can also see them using a stock photo website to keep costs down. The real problem I have is that they made an effort to cover up what they had done once the forum member found out....

Their official reaction to all of this is what really ticked me off...they didn't even apologize or say "oops our bad."

http://vegnews.com/web/uploads/asset/3169/file/FromVegNews.pdf

I agree with you about the ignorant nature of their response.

I think the natural human reflex in this situation is to do what they did. Try to stamp the problem out and when that doesn't work dodge owning up to your part in getting into the mess.

That natural response just gets people more hostile.

VegNews still would have had to take their lumps, but they would have a better chance of putting this issue behind them with less damage by being honest as to why they did it ( especially if the reason was lame, foolish or arrogant ), giving an honest apology, telling people what they were going to do different and making sure people see those changes taking place.

In my experience, that better route is not intuitive to most people. They would not think to do it unless they have been in a situation of harsh public censure before or had the advice of people who know how to deal with PR disasters.

"When reached by phone, Joseph Connelly, the publisher of Veg News, said he realized they made a mistake with their first announcement and would be issuing a policy change soon. “I apologize to everyone I’ve upset. It was never our intention to deceive our readers.” He said everyone at Veg News is upset by the response."

From:

http://tinyurl.com/435ww42

they are just lazy, in my opinion. They didnt have to buy photos at all. They could have cooked those meals themselves and make their own photos of food, no matter if they dont turn out not so "professional". Better bad photos of actual vegan dishes, then perfect photos od meat, presented as seitan...

It's stupid and more annoying that they covered it up, but there are better things to get all excited over. If it really upsets you, complain to their advertisers.

I was already over that magazine before this all started. The printed content wasn't worth renewing past the year I subscribed but their "Q&A" tweetbombs were the last straw.

VegNews apology 2.0

http://vegnews.com/web/uploads/asset/3183/file/AnApologyfromVegNews.pdf

much better this go around. now if only they had done that to begin with.

Its too late. I already sent out the execution order to the vegan mafia.

finally had time to sit down and read all of this and honestly I think it devalues the publication both the initial problem and second the lame response to the issue. Thankfully the 2nd is a better response. In my opinion I think if they wanted to get photos on specific recipes etc. I am sure there are readers that would have taken the time to make the recipe, photograph it and send it in for them. Would it be more work, yes. But it would be realistic. I'm sure there are even restaurants etc that would have send photos of their food. I believe the vegan community would much rather help them out than have them resort to what they choose to do. I'm not going to cancel my subscription over it because i only have 1 or 2 issues left. However I am considering letting it run out and not renewing it. Up to this point I always felt that vegnews was the best veg publication. One of the reasons I always liked it was because of it being vegan. A lot of the other magazines i have seen are vegetarian and therefore a good portion of the recipes involved dairy and just a few strictly vegan recipes. They also do great articles and are not just a recipe book.

I had a response to this all planned out. But I don't think that what I've got to say is particularly interesting or important so I'll cut it down to the tedious essentials. I think VegNews did something wrong, and handled the response badly. But I also think that on "The Scale of Badness" this ranks quite low. I think people need to put it in perspective before responding. It often appears to me that most people have 3 speeds:

1) Don't care

2) Meh, slightly irritated

10) PREPARE FOR END OF WORLD, STOCKPILE FOOD, GET TO DE BUNKA

There are numbers missing there right? This issue is surely around 2.5, no higher. The magnitude of the response should be in line with that, at least in my puny world that's the case