Veganuary 2023 as popular as never: Vegan action month draws record balance

03-Feb-2023 - United Kingdom

Veganuary is inspiring more and more people in Germany and around the world. More than 700,000 have officially registered internationally to participate in Veganuary. In fact, many more people are taking part. A current inquiry of the opinion research institute YouGov in the course of the action month resulted: Nine per cent of the adult population in Germany took the Veganuary to the cause, in order to try vegan nutrition consciously. From the economy participated Germany far more than 850 enterprises. This makes the tenth edition of Veganuary the most successful campaign to date since the organization was founded in 2014.

Mirjam Schmitt

It is becoming more and more natural to eat a vegan diet

"This Veganuary has shown that it is becoming more and more natural and also easier to choose plant-based alternatives in everyday life," says Ria Rehberg, CEO of Veganuary international."The success of this year's campaign proves it:Eating a plant-based diet is not a trend. It's the basis of the ongoing nutritional turnaround that is inevitable given the challenges facing our planet."

706,965 people internationally officially registered on the nonprofit's website during this year's campaign, kicking off an all-plant-based trial month with the help of Veganuary's email series. The record-breaking registrations are only part of the movement. Actual participation in Veganuary is many times higher, according to several studies, and reached new heights this January: In a representative online survey, nine percent of the adult population in Germany said they had consciously tried a purely plant-based diet during the 2023 month of action, the market research institute YouGov determined this January.*

Veganuary highlights: More than 850 large and small companies participated

The growing relevance of the Veganuary can also be seen in the figures for business participation: More than 850 companies and brands got involved this year - twice as many as last year."In the retail, food production and gastronomy sectors, it is impossible to imagine the Veganuary without it," says Christopher Hollmann, Head of Veganuary Germany.

New products and offers in supermarkets: Almost all major retail chains participated with offers and sales promotions. In many supermarkets, there was no way around the Veganuary. Large and small food enterprises brought new vegan products and special offers on the market. Aldi Süd announced that it would expand its vegan range to 1,000 own-brand products.

Veganuary in the catering trade: Domino's Pizza Deutschland, Pizza Hut Deutschland, Burger King, Subway and L'Osteria expanded their purely plant-based range, and Deutsche Bahn served vegan currywurst in its on-board restaurants. With success: 20 percent of the food ordered in ICE and Intercity trains was vegan in January. The Group is therefore reacting - all of the total of three purely plant-based Veganuary promotion dishes will be permanently on the menu from March.

Veganuary in the workplace: 70 companies launched a Workplace Challenge this year. Both start-ups (including Everdrop, Billie Green) and international corporations (including Unilever, BASF, Puma) offered vegan dishes in their company restaurants and canteens or organized discussion rounds, workshops and vegan cooking courses.

Veganuary in schools, media and among celebrities

Also in other social ranges and institutions the Veganuary is in the meantime unmistakable.

Vegan dishes in daycare centers, schools and public institutions: Large catering companies (including Aramark, L&D, SV Group) supplied daycare centers, schools, ministries and canteens with vegan dishes. Some providers developed new dishes for the month of action.

Veganuary conquers public space: chocolate manufacturer Ritter Sport advertises its new vegan varieties on large-format screens in streets, train stations and shopping malls. "With the enormous reach of outdoor advertising, we reach all relevant target groups," says Michaela Holzäpfel, Head of Marketing at Ritter Sport. Marketer Ströer forecasts 2.3 billion contacts for the campaign.

Veganuary creates wave: the growing community exchanged views on Veganuary on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Co. - even celebrities like comedian Atze Schröder and Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg took part in the buzz on social media, actor and Veganuary supporter Ralf Moeller promoted the vegan month with Lidl across channels. Bayern star and mega-influencer Serge Gnabry outed himself as a fan of the campaign in an interview. The Veganuary motivational spot for the New Year was viewed more than 1.4 million times on the international organization's official channels, reaching more than 300 million people in total.

Veganuary creates awareness: With a total reach of several hundred million, more than 2,000 German-language media reports on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines talked about the vegan action month. Among other things ARD, ProSieben and Sat1, DLF and rbb, Cosmopolitan and Vogue, Brigitte and Bunte, mirror and star, picture, daily mirror, world or taz reported: The positive effects of veganer nutrition on climate, environment, animals and health arrived on the agenda of the media.

Trial month extended: Veganuary can still be tested

Who came only now on the taste, can try the vegan new year challenge also in the remainder of the yearly: Interested ones register under www.veganuary.com/mitmachen. The action period can be specified. Veganuary accompanies all participating with a daily new type character. This offers practical everyday Tipps, background information, news as well as prescriptions and new products. In addition, the Veganuary celebrity cookbook with recipes from Bryan Adams, Oli P., Sadie Frost and others is available as a free download upon registration.

* The data used is based on an online survey conducted by YouGov Plc, in which 2,163 people participated between Jan. 13 and Jan. 21, 2023. The results have been weighted and are representative of the German population aged 18 and over.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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