How to Get Positive Results when Contacting the Media About Vegan Interests

Are you a vegan or a vegetarian who is tired of seeing meat recipes in the cooking section of magazines? Are you fed up with fur coats and leather shoes in fashion magazines? Do you want to see more healthy living articles in medical magazines instead of just shoving medicine down people's throats? You can get these goals accomplished with the media, but have a careful strategy.

Supplies:
* Internet access
* Health food information
* Alternative clothing information
* Contact email address or phone number for the correct editor or publisher

Instructions:

Step 1: Do not immediately start ranting about how animals are being killed for food and fashion. As true as it is, it's like telling someone who the murderer is in a murder mystery; you'll ruin your chances to be heard again.

Step 2: Start the discussion off by telling the magazine or newspaper what it is you enjoy about their publication. If you start off contacting them with a complaint, they'll be less likely to believe you're a supportive and consistent reader. And if that's the case, then what do they need to please you for?

Step 3: Suggest your favorite vegan clothing lines and talk about how warm or how attractive the fashion is. Newspapers and magazines, especially the print version, are having trouble in collecting print advertisements due to the economy. For that reason, it's very unlikely that they'll turn down an ad just because it has animal products in it unless the publication truly cares. However, if you can find a product that would appeal to their audience, the sales representatives and editors may be willing to coax that company into advertising.

Step 4: Contact the vegan companies that you want to advertise in this publication. Advertising is a two-way street. If you want vegan advertising in a publication, but the vegan company doesn't want to pay, guess what? Somebody else will, and it may not be someone who is animal friendly.

Step 5: Explain to the editors why it is that healthier eating would appeal to their audience. You don't even have to go into the animal ethics issues. The weight problem in the U.S. (assuming this is a U.S. publication) and the risks of heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure and sky-high medical bills can make a publication more likely to suggest healthy food, even vegan and vegetarian dishes.

Step 6: Make a personal stop to the publishing company with your own vegan dishes. Sometimes people are skeptical of trying vegan or vegetarian dishes, but in smaller publications, they may be willing to give you a shot. Leave a disposable dish for the employees to try out. You just may get the opportunity to write a volunteer blog or column from offering your vegan specialty services.

Step 7: Make the publisher or editor care about your compassion for animals by stating the facts, but try not to do it in an aggressive manner. While you may feel like you're babying the publication and not showing your true and outraged opinions, sometimes passion can be mistaken for overreacting. Make your points heard but do it in a diplomatic manner because once you've freaked out on a person who is less sympathetic to animals, you'll be boxed into "that crazy animal activist" group.

Tips:
Find out which editor is the correct one to contact. Avoid contacting the entire editorial staff. It will make you look like an amateur reader and show just how little you know about who specializes in what. If you're really having problems finding out who is the correct person to contact, call the receptionist. He (or she) tends to know who does what because the receptionist constantly has to filter calls.

Warnings:
Avoid showing graphic pictures of slaughterhouses unless you have permission to do so. Majority of omnivores do not support animal cruelty, but since they don't have to kill the animal, they will eat it. They purposely avoid images like this.