OK, beyond the fact that both of these products are manufactured by the Altria Group, Inc. (formerly Philip Morris Companies Inc.), both represent attempts to transform social movements into consumer markets. And just like smoking a Virginia Slim isn't going to challenge sexism or patriarchy, eating a Boca Burger isn't going to challenge speciesism or human supremacy. Consumer marketing is not a pathway to liberation, yet many organizations are pushing "veganism" as a niche market. As Urvashi Vaid explains regarding the well-resourced lesbian and gay movements in her book Virtual Equality:
At the moment we are in a movement that is "selling" gayness uncritically, as if the only problem were with the product we sell ... not with a heterosexist system that is sustained by maintaining us as a niche market. The reality is that the discovery of the African-American market, of more black images and people on television, film, and in commercials, has done little to stem the persistence and revival of racism. Further, the use of slogans like [Virginia Slims'] "You've come a long way, baby," to sell cigarettes to women has not precluded the rise of a right-wing movement intent on "restoring" the authority of the man as the head of the family. Our treatment as a market advances our genuine equality only to the extent that a strong political movement exists.
What's interesting is that organizations like PETA encourage vegetarians and other nonhuman animal advocates to consume Boca Burgers from hamburger chains like Johnny Rockets. Sometimes these burger advocates go so far as to claim that if we don't eat Boca Burgers we'll actually be hurting nonhuman animals. However, the manufacturer of Boca Burgers is the major funder anti-vegan organizations like the Center for Consumer Freedom, which actually produces the anti-PETA website "PETA Kills Animals." Yet, PETA claims this consumer strategy is most effective in helping nonhuman animals and reducing the suffering of other animals.
This is exactly why I think labeling consumer products "vegan" is misleading and counterproductive. Veganism isn't something that can be purchased in the supermarket, but how we live our lives. Boca Burgers are more about vegetarians assimilating to non-vegan status quo. When a chain like Johnny Rockets sells something like this it is about being non-vegan friendly, as opposed to so-called "vegan friendly." Instead of challenging the flesh-centered diet, it reaffirms it.
