Does the animal freedom movement need to get a sense of humour?
And should we be looking to engage people more than educate them?
What’s happening to our animal cousins is no laughing matter. The intensity and scale of the violence is huge, and much of it is hidden from view. As animal freedom advocates, it can feel like our job is to educate people by exposing what's happening.
Revealing the horror of what's being done to fellow animals is highly effective for many people further along their journey – who already have empathy for some animals, are considering their interests, and are contemplating taking action or making changes in their own lives. It can be the final nudge that's needed to make up their mind.
But what about people further back in their journey?
In Animal Think Tank-run focus groups, participants often tell us they hate seeing images of animals suffering. But how they respond to this kind of message imagery is vastly different.
A few say that these kinds of images make them pause and think, and may prompt them to find out more or take some form of action.
Most say it makes them immediately turn away, and they’ll actively avoid going on certain sites so as not to encounter these kind of messages again.
While others say it makes them angry because they feel like they're being manipulated or made to feel guilty – and they get even more resistant to the message.
As one participant said in a recent focus group we ran (about a message that didn’t even mention the word ‘vegan’ or ‘plant-based’):
“[these kind of messages] make me anti-vegan”.
While we want people to have the first reaction – to pause, think and want to find out more – the reality is most people are too far back in their journey to positively engage with this type of messaging. What we hope will be a helpful nudge forward might actually push a lot of people back – or at the very least stall their journey.
So are there other ways to reach some audiences that doesn't risk alienating them? Could we be looking to engage some people with humour, not just horror?
What does the research show about humour?
Numerous studies have found that humour can lower defensiveness and counter-arguing, making people more open to a message. Several experiments also found that humour or satire reduces psychological reactance, the pushback people feel when their choices or values seem threatened. Some also found that effects improve when a credible or familiar source delivers the joke.
Humour does have its limitations, however. Many of those studies also found:
Short-term persuasion of humorous messages was similar to serious messages.
People may discount the message as ‘just a joke’, especially if the tone never shifts.
Humour does not reliably increase perceived risk or urgency.
Too much humour weakens impact; a light touch works best.
In summary: Humour in messaging seems to work best when paired with clear stakes and a simple, do-able next step.
For some audiences, humour could be a way to open the door, before we state our point clearly, then add a concrete action for people to take.
And as the messages below show, it is possible to use humour effectively in animal-related contexts…
Drawing audiences in through humour
Many food companies already know that humour can be a disarming and engaging way to reach audiences. This ad from Quorn features a trio of muppets doing some Mission: Impossible style tactics. Not only does it involve silly antics that could get the whole family laughing, it flips the ‘normal’ narrative on its head by reframing plant-based food as the tasty norm and animal-based food as the ‘alternative’. It also cleverly bring animals into a food frame in a way that shouldn’t cause cognitive dissonance.
Animal protection organisations also embrace humour when the context feels right. We love these ads from a campaign called the Human Walking Program for the Lost Dogs Home in Australia. They flip the ‘rescue’ narrative, framing dogs as the saviours coming to the rescue of humans in need. Rather than evoking pity or sadness for dogs in shelters, as many shelter ads do, these messages help people engage in a novel way and encourage them to take a dog for a walk because it benefits them too.
Another food ad, this one from the maestro of funny, quirky messaging – Oatly. It flips the usual parent/child dynamic around food, with the son calling out his dad for buying cow’s milk. Aimed squarely at young adults, this frames cow’s milk as something only ‘stubborn’ older generations buy, suggesting they need ‘help’ to get with the times. A great yet subtle reinforcement of the ‘social progress’ narrative that Animal Think Tank has also found persuasive with some audiences…
And while it’s a story rather than a message, we had to include Carnage, the brilliant mockumentary by Simon Amstell. It's 2067, the UK is vegan, but older generations are suffering the guilt of their carnivorous past, while younger generations are shocked that their parents and grandparents used to eat “baby animals”. Again, another reinforcing of the ‘social progress’ narrative, done in an entertaining and thought-provoking way that makes fun of both vegans and non-vegans, and more broadly the culture that perpetuates speciesism.
Using humour in movement messaging
These examples show how humour can work well in ads promoting plant-based products or longer animal-related messages, like the Human Walking Program. So how can we incorporate humour into our movement communications more?
Humour won’t work for every issue or every audience. But it’s another tool in the box we shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with. For some people, it can be a powerful entry point – disarming defensiveness, opening the door and inviting them in, while gently prompting deeper reflection on how humans relate to other animals.
Humour could be especially useful for early-journey audiences – people who avoid graphic content or shut down when confronted with suffering. Used well, it could help people lower their guard, laugh, and stay with the message long enough to learn something new.
That’s when we can follow up with one clear line/fact and a do-able ask. This approach could help engage audiences without trivialising the issue.
Comms tip: Open the door with humour – then deepen the message with a clear fact and do-able ask.
Target the system, not the audience
Humour can also help us challenge power and hypocrisy without sounding preachy or bitter. It gives people permission to laugh with us at the absurdity and cruelty of the current system, instead of feeling like we're laughing at them. If done effectively, it can help create a sense of ‘us’ with our audience, rather than an us/them dynamic where audiences feel judged by the messenger.
Using humour doesn’t mean we take the injustice done to our animal cousins any less seriously. But maybe we can take ourselves a little less seriously as messengers – meeting people where they are, not just where we want them to be.
Watch this space…
Animal Think Tank is currently running a large-scale message-testing study of common messages used by the movement. We're testing a range of message types – including some humorous ones – to see how they perform with ‘persuadable’ audiences.
Early results coming later this year, with full results next year…
What humorous messages have you found funny? Or has your organisation or group created any that you have found work well? Please share your examples in the comments so others can see them too…
Along the humor lines, Chipotle did a hilarious TV minishow 'Farmed and Dangerous' that told the story of animal ag teaming up with fossil fuels to satirize agribusiness. You have got to watch the trailer.
https://uproxx.com/tv/chipotle-yes-chipotle-making-comedy-series-hulu-exploding-cows/
The North Pole is a web series that combines the narratives of climate and gentrification about people of color alikening their experience to polar bears in Oakland, CA https://www.kqed.org/news/11615913/gentrification-and-climate-change-meet-at-the-north-pole
Agreed, a little bit of humour deployed in the right way can be super effective.
A good example is how Gary Yourofsky works some humour into his famous Georgia Tech Speech describing his own style as a mix between Malcolm X and George Carlin.