Anonymous woman tells vegans to call their cheese 'Gary or something'
Angry rant has led vegan community to embrace the new name
The viral storm was sparked by Sainsbury's new range of coconut cheeses
Anonymous woman tells vegans to call their cheese 'Gary or something'
Angry rant has led vegan community to embrace the new name
The viral storm was sparked by Sainsbury's new range of coconut cheeses
Vegans have rebranded dairy-free cheese 'Gary' after a woman's angry Facebook rant about a new range of coconut-based alternatives went viral.
Sainsbury's released a new line of cheeseboard-style dairy free cheeses last week, which infuriated one troll who raged against the products online.
After demanding vegans call dairy-free cheeses 'Gary or something', the vegan community responded by embracing the idea, sparking a torrent of jokes and memes on social media.
The unidentified woman took to Facebook to angrily rant about Sainsbury's new range of dairy-free, coconut-based cheeses
Sainsbury's and the vegan community embraced the idea of renaming dairy-free cheese 'Gary' after a woman's angry Facebook rant against vegan cheeses went viral
Even Sainsbury's jumped on board, uploading a Photoshopped picture of the front of a vegan cheese packet, which replaced the name of the 'cheese' with 'GARY'.
The supermarket released its new range of seven £2.25 coconut oil-based cheeses last week, which include alternatives to Wensleydale with cranberries, and cheddar.
But the launch incensed one unidentified woman, who wrote on Facebook: 'As a real cheese fan myself it's really annoyed me that Sainsbury's have brought out a "Vegan Cheese" made with COCONUTS.
'CHEESE IS NOT MADE WITH COCONUTS. Call it Gary or something but don't call it cheese.'
The epic rant, which went on for several paragraphs, quickly went viral.
Vegan Life Magazine posted a picture of the rant on its Facebook page, before writing: 'Has anyone else seen the new vegan-friendly Gary?'
Bute Islands Foods - which make the vegan cheese for Sainsbury's - uploaded a picture of 'line manager Gary' holding up a packet of the dairy-free cheese with a 'Gary' label
The post soon was being shared hundreds of times on Twitter and Facebook, and spawned a Facebook page: 'It's not Vegan Cheese, it's Gary'.
The page has gained more than 7,900 'likes' with nearly 200 people sharing photos of their memes and 'Gary' jokes.
And soon Sainsbury's joined in, writing on its Facebook and Twitter pages: 'Thanks to customer feedback, we're excited to introduce our new range of #Gary.'
The post has been shared more than 7,000 times and sparked more than 2,600 comments.
It then shared a Facebook post from Bute Island Foods - which makes the vegan cheese for Sainsbury's - showing a picture of 'line manager Gary' holding up a packet of the dairy-free cheese with a 'Gary' label.
It wrote: 'LIVE from the Bute Island Foods Creamery: Line manager, Gary, is so busy he's even making Gary for everyone on Saturday!
A picture of vegan cheese was posted to the 'It's not Vegan Cheese, it's Gary' Facebook page with the caption: 'We interrupt this broadcast to inform you that vegan cheese is now called "GARY".
Teespring have capitalised on the viral hit, producing a £13.10 T-shirt that reads: 'It's not vegan cheese, it's Gary!'
Hayley Jeantou posted on Facebook that even her five-year-old had cottoned onto the meme, insisting vegan cheese is called 'Gary'
'Smile and say "Gary".'
It has been liked nearly 100 times.
Thousands shared memes and jokes about 'Gary' vegan cheese after the original Facebook rant went viral.
On the 'It's not Vegan Cheese, it's Gary' Facebook page, a picture of vegan cheese was posted with the caption: 'We interrupt this broadcast to inform you that vegan cheese is now called "GARY".
The page then riffed on the popular 'One does not simply walk into Mordor' meme from Lord of the Rings, instead writing: 'One does not simply call it vegan cheese. It's Gary.'
On the same page, a meme was posted of cheese-loving Wallace from Wallace and Gromit with the caption: 'GARY!' instead of his usual catchphrase of 'cheese, Gromit'.
One person posted a meme of cheese-loving Wallace from Wallace and Gromit with the caption: 'GARY!' instead of his usual catchphrase of 'cheese, Gromit'
Another riffed on the popular 'One does not simply walk into Mordor' meme from Lord of the Rings, instead writing: 'One does not simply call it vegan cheese. It's Gary'
One of the Facebook page administrators later posted a picture of a dinner of butternut and sweet potato soup topped with grated vegan cheese
One of the page administrators later posted a picture of a dinner of butternut and sweet potato soup topped with grated vegan cheese, captioning the image with: 'Tonight's meal is roasted butternut and sweet potato autumn soup (made with all fresh ingredients by hand) with alpro cream and grated Gary (cause Vegans only eat grass).
'Normally I'd drown my soup in Gary but this Cheezely Gary is super strong haha.'
In another riff on a popular meme, the page administrators replaced a picture of a packet of Sainsbury's vegan Wensleydale-style with cranberries on top of the infamous image of Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
But instead of writing 'here's Johnny,' the photo reads: 'Heeeeeeeere's Gary'.
Teespring have capitalised on the viral hit, producing a T-shirt available in five different colours for £13.10 that reads: 'It's not vegan cheese, it's Gary!'
Hayley Jeantou posted on Facebook: 'So I'm doing my shopping online and my five-year-old is sat next to me, I type in vegan cheese into the search bar, and yes, you guessed it, he said no mummy it's not vegan cheese, it's Gary.'
In another riff on a popular meme, a picture of a packet of Sainsbury's vegan Wensleydale-style with cranberries was placed on top of the infamous image of Jack Nicholson in The Shining with the caption: 'Here's Gary'
Vegan Life Magazine wrote above a picture of a vegan cheese and tomato sandwich: 'We're just about to tuck into our Gary and tomato sandwich'.
On Twitter, CaitlinAC mused: 'The first company to put out #vegan cheese and actually brand it as Gary will be so rich'
Meanwhile Daiya Foods joined in with the jokes on Facebook, and Photoshopped a picture of its vegan Margarita with its 'new name': 'Mar-Gary-ta'
Vegan Life Magazine wrote above a picture of a vegan cheese and tomato sandwich: 'We're just about to tuck into our Gary and tomato sandwich'.
On Twitter, CaitlinAC mused: 'The first company to put out #vegan cheese and actually brand it as Gary will be so rich.'
Meanwhile Daiya Foods joined in with the jokes on Facebook, and Photoshopped a picture of its vegan Margarita with its 'new name': 'Mar-Gary-ta'
Fra Casta shared a photo on the 'It's not Vegan Cheese, it's Gary' Facebook page to show that the viral sensation had even reached Italy and possibly other continents too
The whole incident has been a marketing success for Sainsbury's, with even non-vegans such as Morgan Le Fay convinced
Fra Casta shared a photo on the 'It's not Vegan Cheese, it's Gary' Facebook page to show that the viral sensation had even reached Italy.
The picture shows that someone has placed a label with 'vegan cheese' crossed out, replaced with 'Gary'.
The page reported that: 'Now we've had The Netherlands, Germany, America, Canada, and Italy joining the fun!'
The whole incident has been a marketing success for Sainsbury's, with even non-vegans convinced.
Morgan Le Fay wrote on Twitter: 'I don't normally care about cheese but that vegan Gary actually looks so peng on toast. @Sainsburys Leeds, Hyde Park Sainsbury's plz.'
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