Why supermarkets should #MarkItVegan


We launched our #MarkItVegan campaign in 2016, calling for all major supermarkets to clearly label their own-brand vegan products in some way. Since then, Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Morrisons and Iceland have all announced that they will be doing just that. Some have already started to widely label their products.

Such labelling not only helps vegans, but also helps those who wish to try more vegan food and those who purchase vegan food for their family members. In addition, it helps highlight to people that vegan food is indeed just ‘normal’ food.

Labelling products as ‘vegan’ or ‘plant-based’ also has the potential for huge benefits for the supermarkets themselves. Earlier this year, Animal Aid conducted a survey of more than 1,000 people – who identified as vegans, vegetarians, reducetarians or simply people who purchased vegan products for family members – about their attitudes to vegan labelling. 96 per cent of respondents said that they would be more inclined to purchase a product that was clearly labelled as ‘vegan’, and 69 per cent said that they would consider switching supermarkets, should a competitor start labelling their products.

The number of vegans worldwide has grown massively in recent times. A poll commissioned by The Vegan Society in 2016 showed that the number of vegans in Britain has grown by more than 350 per cent in the last ten years. Not only this, the number of people reducing the number of animal products that they consume – known as reducetarians or flexitarians – has skyrocketed, with an estimated 22 million people now following a ‘reducetarian’ diet.

It has never been a better time to try veganism, and for companies to take the initiative to ensure their vegan products are indeed widely known.