Did a vegan ad just air on Australian TV for the first time?
Hungry Jack’s has just made a big gamble with its latest TV ad, and Hedgehog Agency managing director Josh Berg is hoping it pays off.
Last Sunday, I flicked on the telly to tune into my favourite show – RBT. As the police ticker chime came on I knew that one of two things was about to happen. I was either going to bear witness to yet another exciting scene featuring someone blowing over, or I was closing in on an advertising break. Normally I’d opt for the former, but on this occasion, I enjoyed the latter.
Sandwiched between a Bunnings advertisement promising to beat any price, and a Telstra ad telling me how magical iPhones are, was a Hungry Jack’s ad. But this time it wasn’t just telling me that the burgers are better. There was one particular word which piqued my interest. ‘Vegan’.
Love it, Josh! What a good point. I’ve never thought of this – but just realised that yes, I haven’t seen a vegan TV ad before. What a game-changer. Will definitely be buying a HJ vegan burger – the ad worked on me!
True! True! You are totally correct-I have never seen a Vegan TV ad before-so refreshing to see.
Great article and analysis Josh Berg.
And yes- I will be trying one of these “bad boys” soon !
Quorn have been advertising for a year –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfc6yf_7CWM
I think you will find that most Quorn products (including the one advertised) contains egg, so is not vegan.
Ah, thanks for pointing this out! This product in particular is vegetarian, not vegan (contains eggs), but the same premise remains.
The ingredients listed on their site are as follows and they don’t contain egg.
Bun 5″ Seeded (Wheat Flour, Water, Baker’s Yeast, Canola Oil, Sesame Seeds, Sugar, Wheat
Gluten, Iodised Salt, Soy Flour, Emulsifiers (471, 481, 472e), Preservative (282), Vitamins
(Thiamin, Folate)),
Veggie Patty (Vegetables (58%) (Carrots, Peas, Corn, Potato, Capsicum), Seasoning (Rice
Flour, Dehydrated Vegetables, Wheat Flour, Soy Protein, Salt, Thickeners (415, 464),
Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (Maize), Yeast Extract, Flavour Enhancer (635), Herb & Spice
Extracts, Colour (100)), Water, Canola Oil),
Biocheese (Water, Coconut Oil, Starch, Modified Starch (E1404, 1450), Sea Salt, Vegan
Cheddar Flavours, Loive Extract, Colour (B- Carotene)), Tomato,
Vegan Mayonnaise (Water, Canola Oil, Vinegar, Thickeners (1442, 412, 415), Sugar, Salt,
Vegetable Protein, Mustard Flour, Acidity Regulator (Acetic Acid), Preservatives (202, 211),
Flavour, Natural Colour),
Lettuce,
Tomato sauce: Concentrated Tomatoes (76%), Sugar, Salt, Concentrated White Vinegar,Citric
Acid, Natu
This is the advertised product: https://www.quorn.com.au/products/quorn-mince.
The second ingredient is ‘free range egg white’.
Well done to Hungry Jack’s for smashing the “Australia Day 2016 Lamb Ad” bubble – I for one want to taste these vegan burgers asap!
Right, smart move by the food giants-magically transform processed garbage into health food just by calling it vegan! People who actually believe veganism is a healthy trend are seriously delusional.
Most vegans are well aware that vegan junk food is unhealthy – the concern (for most of us) being animal welfare, rather than our diet being healthy.
You might wanna brush up on how meat is processed… nothing natural there anymore!
Haha! So true, Chris! Choosing fruits, nuts, vegetables and legumes instead of meat and cheese is SO unhealthy! This whole supplying “an alternative to meat” thing is SO over-the-top! What is the world coming to? I’ll stick to the 5 star health-rated Whopper with Bacon and Cheese thanks! Extra bacon, amiright?!
Do your research before making uninformed remarks Chris. It overwhelmingly points to plant based diets being healthier. There is a lot of junk vegan food too, but don’t use this as a way to dismiss the overall health benefits.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/
@Chris.
And people who eat animal corpses and secretions to be healthy are not delusional?
Thanks for the lol mate.
Really 100% vegan?
Reports are coming in (in the last week) that show the use of commercial bees for pollination of crops is destroying the vegan dream of consuming 100% non-animal produced products….
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-15/should-vegans-stop-eating-almonds-and-avocadoes/10378584
Lol. Vegans might want to ask themselves if HJs have special vegan grills for cooking the patties, or if they just get slapped on the same grill as the meat patties.
HJ’s admit that the food will come into contact with other foods.. IMPORTANT: Hungry Jack’s restaurants serve food that contain Gluten, Eggs, Milk &
Milk Products, Soy, Fish & Crustacea, Sesame and traces of Sulphites.
Customers should be aware that our restaurants are not ‘free from’ these items and
that Individual food items may come in contact with one another during food
preparation and this is not reflected on this chart.
VEGAN DOUBLE WITH VEGAN CHEESE
Bun 5″ Seeded (Wheat Flour, Water, Baker’s Yeast, Canola Oil, Sesame S
https://www.hungryjacks.com.au/Upload/HJ/Media/Menu/Nutritional%20Guide/Nutrition-Guide-4Oct18.pdf
???Great read!
Worthy investment by HJ. Communicating a great message without the fluff.
@Steve in the article you linked, the author even mentions that saying vegans aren’t so great because they consume almonds and avocados is an example of reductio ad absurdum. So maybe look that up before munching on a mountain of healthy (/s) bacon.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Be interesting to see how they sell. Can’t see any reason why they shouldn’t. Although, as someone else pointed out, the shared hot plates could present a bit of moral / ethical/ philosophical dilemma for some vegans. There again, it’s really no different to buying a salad sandwich at a milk bar that also makes meat sandwiches or indeed buying our “vegan gear” at a supermarket because they also sell non-vegan items (such as raw meat !). Apparently vegetarianism (and veganism ?) is now, well and truly, on the rise… internationally.
The rise of “flexitarian” diets with consumers wanting reduce their meat intake for various heath, environmental and animal welfare concerns means that the great divide between what is “right” and “wrong” isn’t really the point anymore for the mainstream population. Likewise it’s not about reaching a “vegan” vs “non-vegan” market.
It’s about choice and a rapidly growing mainstream consumer demand for more plant-base options. Australia is the 3rd fastest growing vegan market (Euromonitor, 2017) with 50%+ Australians eating less meat (Roy Morgan, 2016).
This brings a wealth of opportunities to anyone who manufactures, sells and serves food and drink. Hungry Jacks is tapping into a mainstream trend (not a fad), as have all the major supermarkets, smart independents etc – the rise of plant-based diets, and demand for perceived “better-for-you” options. The word vegan is now understood and somewhat less “loaded” so it makes sense to use it.
So I think the challenge of saying HJs or their consumers were “wrong before” is a non-issue. Consider many of the successful health behaviour change campaigns – they don’t imply their audience was wrong for their choices.
As media we like to polarise issues – and granted for some it is polarising subject – but for most of us, we’re just trying to be better humans – healthier and more conscious about how our actions affect the environment and animal welfare – and we want to buy from companies who share those values.
As for me, I’ll still pack my own lunch!
Thanks Josh, glad you love the ad, let’s see how quickly the others follow 🙂
Our social spot with Natalie Tran also got vegan’s talking. And for all those doubters, we cook our patties with our tasty vegan chips and assemble away from any chicken or beef products 😉
There’s some more info on our website here: https://www.hungryjacks.com.au/better-food/vegan-en
Deep fried “burgers”… lol
No. 2012. Animals Australia “make is possible” campaign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ-IUWOOUfY
How much saturated fat and salt is in it though! Still unhealthy!
Great article, HJ is advertising VEGANISM, its huge. I have had 10 burgers so far. ?
Yeah, go to Hungry Jacks to eat vegan burger, how stupid…