Vegans not happy with latest Jack Astor's ad campaign
Jack Astor’s has never exactly been known for its sensitivity, but their latest flub is being called a new low by vegans.
A current billboard advertising menu item “The Boss Hogg Burger” jokingly calls the sandwich with cheese, jalapeno cheddar sausage and bacon “vegan rehabilitation.”
If you want to eat meat fine but #jackastors doing this is unnecessary. Let’s be real - the #vegans are doing the right thing. I eat meat but I’m certainly not going to mock them or imply something is wrong with them. Maybe boss with his beer needs rehabilitation. More likely. pic.twitter.com/1xXniGQ4Yu
— sarbjit kaur (@sarbjitkaur1) December 8, 2018
As vegans are a particularly vocal activist group, the campaign is likely looking to get a taste of a little free advertising. Boss Hogg is the fictional greedy commissioner of Hazzard County from Dukes of Hazzard, falling in line with typical in-your-face Jack Astor’s branding.
@Jack_Astors
— Rambino (@RamRamBiggaLow) December 8, 2018
Just lost all their vegan customers.
Great marketing!
Backwards thinking 🙄
Thanks for checking another one off the list 👏🏼#vegan #veganfuture@TorontoPigSave pic.twitter.com/Ha2nvdUxE5
Even if the campaign is meant to stir up viral free advertising, it’s actually winding up alienating any vegan customers Jack Astor’s might have. It also seems particularly tone deaf of the boozy venue to put the word “rehabilitation” next to a burger topped with beer-marinated onions, pictured with a huge glass of beer.
Thanks @Jack_Astors....appreciate you letting me know where to not go as a vegan and someone who routinely takes clients out for lunches and dinners....thanks again! But please do continue to marginalize those who make healthy diet choices....#kudos pic.twitter.com/tybX1OI4Dj
— Common Sense (@ComeOnSense1) December 8, 2018
It’s also probably not smart to mention the v-word just a few years after Jack Astor’s employees at a London location dumped cold water, hot water and vinegar on vegan protestors from a rooftop patio Medieval-style.
@Jack_Astors I have never been so disgusted with corprate advertising. #MoneyOverThePlanet #Desperate #NewLow #Disgusting#Vegan #VeganTakeover #Toronto pic.twitter.com/NXo4j0F7Kp
— Micheℓℓe (@Michiie9) December 8, 2018
This is another recent stumbling block in relations between vegans and Toronto restaurants.
Just recently a woman was hospitalized after ingesting dairy at one of Toronto’s most visible and controversial vegan restaurants, and local A&W locations were unexpectedly unable to provide their popular new Beyond Meat burger for a period.
