Vegans Fare Better than Bacon on Tinder

Animal-rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently conducted an experiment to ascertain whether vegans or meat-eaters get more positive responses on popular dating application Tinder. PETA created two similar profiles for “Peter,” a 29-year-old male in Melbourne, Australia. One profile featured a main photo of Peter wearing a shirt with the word “vegan” written across the chest, a short biography that stated “vegan for life,” and several accompanying photos of Peter—including one with him holding a watermelon at the grocery store, and one with him and a puppy. The alternate profile was nearly identical, however, Peter’s main photo had the word “vegan” swapped for “bacon” and showed the eligible bachelor fishing and holding meat at the market, while his description touted “bacon for life.” After one week, Peter’s vegan profile gained 109 matches and 11 inbox messages, while his meat-centric profile received 54 matches and only three messages. “Any bacon-loving beefcake looking for love will find that there are plenty more fish in the sea if they go vegan,” PETA’s associate director of campaigns Ashley Fruno said, adding that women find vegan men more attractive because they are concerned about their health, animals, and the environment. The popularity of veganism amongst Australians is on the rise—as evidenced by a Google Trend report that identified that “vegan” was the most popular dietary search term last year—and PETA’s experiment proves that those looking for love down under now prefer cruelty-free partners.