Beyoncé and Jay-Z sell out veganism for ticket giveaway

My parents had no issue getting me to eat plants and often discouraged my somewhat obsessive relationship with broccoli. My sister, on the other hand, had her veggies hidden beneath cheese and between bagel halves. Now, Beyoncé & Jay-Z are playin’ mum and dad for us all with by dangling a carrot on a string for a chance to win concert tickets for life. It’s a great marketing tactic but it sells veganism short, yet again.

The often raved about and seldom fully-articulated 22-day plant-based diet program that the famous pair have developed with trainer Marco Borges is being hocked again. Problem is, lazy or confused journalists everywhere are conflating this environment and health focused diet challenge with veganism (with no thanks to #vegan Instagram posts from Beychella herself). But Beyoncé is still not vegan and Jay-Z is not trying “veganism” twice a day, either. They’re both just eating more plants and (together with their marketing teams) are leveraging the resolutioners in their fanbases to sell programs and promises to people who think that by following suit, they will get closer to Bey and Jay. Whether that’s closer in body type or literally closer because you could be in the same stadium at the same time, it’s still just a great marketing campaign.

They have been high on their pedestals, preaching the benefits of plant eating and how they see it as the best thing for their family and the world, and you won’t hear an argument from me there. But they aren’t giving away concert tickets to people who go vegan, eat plant-based or who have finally figured out what jicama is (gold star). This is just another powerful endorsement to promote registration for the 22-day whatever it is without much in place to support real, meaningful change.

You pop over to their website, you give them your personal info and if you’re an 18+ U.S resident, you’ve got a chance at up to $12,000 worth of tickets to see either Jay-Z or Beyoncé at one official tour per year for the next 30 years. You won’t have to enrol for meal delivery, a book or a program (the site just promises “resources” to change your green print) seemingly, but one spammy way or another, you’ve gotta drink the Kool-Aid. Other than that, the contest doesn’t really require any betterment of it’s participants. But does anyone actually believe Jay-Z will still be rapping at 79? I guess it’s slightly more possible Beyoncé will accept a Las Vegas residency at 67. Who knows.

It would all be pretty harmless (to me) if everyone left the word vegan out, truthfully. I mean, I’m not interested in getting into why diets are harmful or why it’s elitist to link our individual responsibilities in regards to helping the planet with something that requires a level of wealth (ie: subscriptions or meal delivery) today, because this space is for talks on veganism. And veganism deserves better than constantly being considered something to be bribed, dared or loosely entered into. We need news media and the people behind this promotion to stop colouring outside of the green lines, because “vegan” should not be used as click-bait.

I agree fully that we have the individual ability to affect real change in the world through our choices, but that shouldn’t stop at our waistlines or consumption levels of water. When we encourage veganism, we are encouraging the freedom of all living beings and the rights of animals. I’m all for Beyoncé and Jay-Z concerts (for thirty years to come), and I’m all for optimizing our collective health, but I am far from being for minimizing veganism to anything less than our moral obligation to the animals everyone is so quick to remove from the conversation. Please stop falling for the sensationalized headlines and please consider going vegan, and staying vegan, for the right reasons.

Now, wish me luck because hopefully I win these tickets and have a chance to get both stars on team vegan for real.