A marketing firm which boasts that it’s ‘vegan from the roots up’ has been slammed for hypocrisy as it feeds its own staff bacon and sausage rolls as a weekly treat on their ‘Fat Frydays’.
Ethica has been getting the meat baps delivered to its offices in Norwich, Norfolk, every Friday.
The breakfast perk was revealed by a whistleblower after the firm claimed it had turned down business from non-vegan companies.
A delivery of bacon and egg baps arrive at the Ethica offices in Norwich, Norfolk. It comes as the chief boasted that the marketing firm is ‘vegan from the roots up’ and had been certified as Vegan Founded
Chief executive Oliver Blackmore allegedly told refused to do work for an ostrich leather retailer, a greyhound race track and a sausage company.
But the company’s ‘ethical and vegan office’ is said to ‘reek of bacon’, according to the whistleblower.
Ethica is an offshoot of another digital company called Selesti and the they share staff and the same office.
A report in the Eastern Daily Press revealing how bags of bacon and sausage butties were delivered by bicycle to offices on Friday, sparked outrage on social media.
The kitchen’s of Ethica (pictured, file image), which are shared with digital company Selesti, are said to ‘reek of bacon’, according to the whistleblower. Its chief executive Oliver Blackmore defended the breakfast treat, known as Fat Frydays, by saying ‘no company can be 100 per cent ethical’
Facebook user Dominy Jones said: ‘You are hypocrites, a very transparent display of your business seeking to benefit from the current popularity of veganism and need for sustainability. So incredibly disappointing.’
Mr Blackmore bragged in a Facebook post about how Ethica had been certified as Vegan Founded, meaning it was ‘really vegan, from the roots up’, last month.
He added in the post: ‘As the founder of Ethica, my mission was clear from the start – we’ll only work with plant-based, cruelty-free and ethical brands.’
Among his bold claims, he mentioned how ‘many companies are jumping on the bandwagon’ and ‘exploiting the movement without genuine concern’ for animals, people or the planet – putting ‘profit before purpose’.
His company’s Vegan Founded certification ‘adds credibility’ to their values and other organisations they want to ‘help grow’.
Mr Blackmore added: ‘As a vegan, I know how important it is that our clients and their customers can feel assured that their shared values and ethical practices mirror ours.’
Mr Blackmore previously bragged on Facebook about his ‘clear’ mission to work ‘only with plant-based, cruelty-free and ethical brands’ at Ethica. He has gone on to say he ‘would love’ the office to be vegan but claimed other members of senior management have ‘different opinions’
After being confronted about his Fat Frydays perk for staff, Mr Blackmore said: ‘No company can be 100% ethical.
‘It’s like setting up a company called dogood.com and only doing good deeds – it’s impossible. We are trying to promote inclusivity as well as helping the planet.
‘For example by contributing to the one per cent for the planet organisation which means we contribute at least one per cent of annual sales to environmental issues.’
When quizzed about why Ethica would not work with a sausage company while buying bangers for staff, Mr Blackmore said ‘its a process and we’re trying to move more in that direction’.
He added how ‘we can’t bulldoze our staff with these polices’ and ‘not hire people because they’re not vegan’ as that’s ‘dictatorial and will put people off’.
The chief ‘would love’ the office to be vegan but claimed other members of senior management have ‘different opinions’.
When asked why the company paid for meat products for its staff instead of plant-based meals, Mr Blackmore added: ‘This is something we have looked at…
‘We were going to do Veganuary this year but we missed it. We had a problem with the supplier we were going to be using.
He defended the weekly breakfast perk (file image)by suggesting that banning meat would ‘promote exclusivity’
‘Since we started doing Frydays we have seen meat consumption fall by about 50 per cent.’
He added that making the Ethica and Selesti offices meat-free would promote exclusivity, saying: ‘When you go to other companies that work with vegan brands you see people eating cheese sandwiches.’
Mr Blackmore insisted that the revenue generated by Ethica was not used to pay for the bacon sandwiches.
But fellow ethical business leader, Taylor Gathercole who runs a sustainable firewood business in Hingham, Norfolk, said: ‘My view is that what you say outwardly should be what you implement inwardly.
‘If I were a customer and I had gone to them because of how they market themselves, and then found this out, I would be disappointed.’
He added how ‘you wouldn’t see my buying bacon sandwiches for staff’ if his business was promoting itself as ethical and pro-vegan.
‘If they want a sausage sandwich, they can go out and buy it with their own money.’