How Could Just Egg Achieve More Ethical Advertising?

Why the company needs to return to messages from earlier ads

Made with mung beans, Just Egg’s products are delicious egg replacements. I don’t buy eggs, so I’ve been purchasing Just Egg items regularly. When I saw an ad for the company on a YouTube video, I initially felt excited because it signaled to me that more people might be switching from eggs to Just Egg.

I, however, have conflicted feelings about that ad “Jane | Really Good Eggs” itself. It shows that egg alternatives can be tasty. That message is fantastic, but it irks me that it minimizes animal suffering alongside that. After seeing it, I decided to go to the Just Egg YouTube channel to watch their other ads. Their most recent ones contain some problematic content, and I dislike the ways that these ads have changed.

The much earlier Just Egg ads embrace issues such as animal rights and climate change activism. For example, an ad from three years ago “Just Egg: Visiting the Farm” stresses the need for farming that doesn’t harm the planet; it hints at the ways that people can harvest mung beans using methods better for the planet than some other forms of agriculture. This ad doesn’t go into the taste of the products but it shares a vital message — that we all have to do our part to make necessary consumption as sustainable as possible.

After I watched that ad, I viewed another three-year-old one called “Just x Green Common Launch in Hong Kong”. It addresses a multitude of benefits from Just Egg groceries without ever minimizing animal suffering. Indeed, it mentions it and shows how eating these fake eggs helps chickens who live in agony on factory farms. At the same time, this ad describes the similarity in taste, the simplicity of cooking with them, and the health benefits. I think this ad does a fantastic job appealing to people who have the misconception that all vegan and vegetarian substitutes are gross, but it also includes essential sustainability and animal rights concepts.

The ads from the past six months, however, diverge from the positive messages in earlier ads. “Grandma | Really Good Eggs” makes worries about sustainability sound irrelevant through presenting people who talk about climate change as annoying. While it’s good that it points out that fake eggs are appealing, the video minimizes the real danger the earth faces from global warming. “Jane | Really Good Eggs” has a narrator who talks similarly about how Jane feels indifferent to the ethics surrounding her food. Both these ads risk reinforcing indifference to the moral choices surrounding food.

“Kelly | Really Good Eggs” contains the same problems as the other two and throws in catering to negative views about vegans and vegetarians. It portrays Kelly’s relationship with a vegan as a potential problem due to his dietary choices, but it then suggests that she feels comfortable with it because of tasty Just Egg products. It indicates that she feels it is ludicrous to wish to procure animal rights. Even though it’s probably unintended, the implicit belittling of vegans, vegetarians, and animal rights activists in ads contributes to cultural stigma against them.

I appreciate that Just Egg reassures people that their egg substitutes are appetizing. They should consider returning to ads that don’t minimize animal suffering and global warming. It would also be great if they didn’t use a tone that presents their primary customers — vegans and vegetarians — as ridiculous.

Here are the links to the videos that I’ve mentioned: