Share Their Stories

Two things:



1) By now we all know about foreclosure pets, the animals left behind when a family loses their home. But there's another tragic story behind some dogs' homelessness: suicide. A friend of a friend committed suicide recently. His weimaraner , Smokey, now needs a new home. She is spayed and has up-to-date vaccinations. She's a little older and she's a little overweight. If you or someone you know can adopt her, please comment here and I'll forward the info along. Thank you.

(Image above is NOT Smokey. I don't have a picture of her yet. But this is basically what she looks like. The image is Savannah, a weimaraner whose picture I found on DC Area Weimaraner Rescue.)

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2) The above story, though it doesn't say much about Smokey, relays enough information for most people to feel sympathy for her. Some of those people will go out of their way to help find a home for her. Simply stated, the above TRUE story is an example of "selling compassion."

Nathan Winograd makes the point (in Redemption) that one of the most successful methods of finding homes for homeless animals is to personalize the animals: share their stories. If animal shelters share an animals' story, that animal is more likely to be adopted and thus spared euthanasia.

There's something about us that makes us care more about individuals whom we get to know than about strangers. Sharing an animals' personal story is one way of making that animal less of a stranger and more of a part of the family.

Whether we're trying to get people to care about dogs or care about cows, sharing the animals' story goes a LONG way:

Videos: Powerful Tools

Even the meat industry groups know the truth:

"Video is one of the most powerful tools used by animal rights groups and other activist organizations, according to the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. Disturbing images, whether legitimate, staged or misleading, evoke strong emotions and are effective in using rare instances of abuse to defame an entire industry."

Quote source: Dairy Herd Management (link)

Meet your Meat on the Street

This is a video of animal advocacy/ selling compassion.
They showed PETA's "Meet your Meat" and handed out Vegan Outreach literature.

Meet Your Meat: http://meat.org
Vegan Outreach: http://www.veganoutreach.org

Virgil's Virtue

Direct, honest, compelling.

I think first-hand accounts are incredibly persuasive, don't you?

YOU ARE THE SOLUTION

Compelling?
Why?

Knowing Our Audience

This video is an excellent resource for learning how to sell compassion. I've watched it a couple of times already and I learn more each time I watch it:

Understanding Our Audience from Let Live Foundation on Vimeo.

Some take-away messages are:

• We should create strong perceptions of credibility.
• We are most effective at persuasion when we focus our message on a target audience.
• 10,40,40,10 Rule: The general population is composed of four groups: Two "extremist" type of groups, 10% who agrees with you and 10% who disagrees. The other two groups are larger and one leans towards agreement (40%) while the other leans away from agreement (40%).
• The best use of our time is to try to move the middle. Don't waste time arguing with the extremist nay-sayers.
  
• The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be relevant to crafting AR messages.
• Shame is a powerful motivating factor.
• Stages of change: for example, most vegans were vegetarians first.
• Every movement has its moment: pay attention to the news and social climate because opportunities will present themselves.
• Almost by definition, our audience is different from us.
• We should do more research. Here's one resource: http://www.humanespot.org/
  

Doing Research, Having Good Sources

Following up on the idea of using the animal exploiter's words, images, and research against them, here's a video describing how to research animal abuse:


How To: Researching Animal Abuse from Let Live Foundation on Vimeo.

Authority

CopyBlogger describes six principles of persuasion. I'm addressing each one here at Selling Compassion with practical ideas for activism. This is the fourth of the series. Part 1 was: The Power of Reciprocation, part 2 was: Commitment and Consistency, part 3 was: Attracting Allies, and part 4 was: Popularity.

Today: Authority

Authority — In this age of specialization, we are more prone to respond to authority than ever before. Regardless of an independent spirit, we look to experts or those we perceive to be experts to give us the answers and show us the way. Even the mere symbols of authority, such as titles and specialized clothing, are enough to trigger a response. Example: Note how seeing someone with a white smock and stethoscope instantly suggests “doctor” and makes anything that person says about medicine seem more authoritative.

Application: Provide signs and symbols of expertise. Establish your expertise by providing solid information. Show your credentials. Create trustworthiness by admitting flaws or shortcomings and demonstrating lack of bias. Show similarities between you and your prospect or customer. Cite awards, reviews, speaking engagements, and books you’ve authored.

Here are some basic things you can do (in your own animal advocacy) to increase your authority:

• Use proper grammar and spelling.
• Cite your sources.
• Don't use the passive voice.
• Educate yourself: knowledge is power.
  

Regarding vegan advocacy, Matt Ball makes this claim:

"it is imperative that we present information the public won’t regard as ludicrous and from sources that they won’t dismiss as partisan."

In fact, some organizations recommend using the animal exploiters' information against them. When we use their own photos and articles, the public can't claim it's biased or isolated.

Exposing Institutionalized Cruelty from Let Live Foundation on Vimeo.

For example, this video below comes from the pig farming industry and can't be called pro-vegan whatsoever, yet the video clearly demonstrates the inherent cruelty in the industry:

• Mother pigs (sows) don’t have enough room to turn around
• Pigs (hogs) are confined indoors without access to sunshine, grass, or mud
• Ear tags: a form of mutilation
• Runt piglets are separated from their mothers

Another way to use authority to "sell compassion" is to promote the works of authoritative figures within the animal rights movement, such as:

• Tom Regan
• Peter Singer
• Gary Francione
• Carol J. Adams
  

Using Popularity To "Sell" Compassion

CopyBlogger describes six principles of persuasion. I'm addressing each one here at Selling Compassion with practical ideas for activism. This is the fourth of the series. Part 1 was: The Power of Reciprocation, part 2 was: Commitment and Consistency, and part 3 was:
Attracting Allies.

Today is about popularity.

Social Proof — Most of us are imitators in most of what we do. We look to others for guidance, especially when we are uncertain about something. We ask, “What do others think about this? What do others feel? What do others do?” Then we act accordingly, all thanks to the power of social proof.

Application: Show others using your services or buying your products. List testimonials of satisfied customers or clients. Feature stories of those who have been “converted” from another service. Show pictures of people using your product. Provide case histories of some of your best customers. When people see that what you offer is okay with other people, they are more likely to give it a try themselves.

A classic example of this method of persuasion is the list of famous vegetarians:

Some bloggers who "sell compassion" use this idea almost exclusively:

• Ecorazzi - a blog about celebrities and their environmentally-friendly or unfriendly actions.
• Vegetarian Star - a blog about, you guessed, vegetarian stars.

Then, of course, there are the celebrities themselves who sell compassion:

• Daryl Hannah (check out her vid on vegan junk food or her vid on live food)
• Woody Harrelson
• Ed Begley, Jr.

One Video At A Time

Sometimes it just takes a few conversations with real people:



Porolita22 says she went vegan as a result of watching a YouTube video. So she made this video of vegan YouTubers who make vlogging videos about veganism. She and her video are "selling compassion."

Does Veganism Sell Itself?

This video is basically a historical perspective of Vegan Outreach's attempts to "sell compassion." Jack Norris, co-founder of Vegan Outreach, comes to the conclusion that "exposing factory farms and advocating ethical eating is perhaps the most readily accessible option for reducing animal suffering."

Speaking of exposing factory farms...


Thus, effective vegan education/ compassion sales can take place in these kinds of situations:

• Leafletting: handing out VO booklets that expose factory farming in images, statistics, and quotations.
• Blogging: posting videos, photos, statistics, etc. that expose factory farming.
• Letter-writing: sending letters to friends, family, and newspapers that expose the realities of factory farming.
• Mobile Videos: tabling with a TV and videos of Meet Your Meat or other videos of factory farming.
  

Ten Rules of Effective Language for Veganism

Mark Hawthorne describes some ways to sell compassion in "Framing the Animal Rights Message." I agree with most of these "Ten Rules":

Luntz provides readers with his Ten Rules of Effective Language:

1. Simplicity — Use small words. Avoid words that might force someone to reach for the dictionary (because most people won’t).
2. Brevity — Use short sentences. Never use a sentence when a phrase will do, and never use four words when three can say as much.
3. Credibility is as important as philosophy — People have to believe it to buy it.
4. Consistency matters — Repetition, repetition, repetition. Finding a good message and then sticking with it takes extraordinary discipline, but it pays off tenfold in the end. You may be making yourself sick saying something over and over, but many in your audience will be hearing it for the first time. (During the Prop 2 initiative battle in California, supporters of the measure to ban intensive confinement have constantly said Prop 2 would allow animals “to stand up, turn around, lie down and fully extend their limbs” — often several times in the same interview or debate).
5. Novelty — Offer something new. Words that work often involve a new definition of an old idea (such as when author Ruth Harrison used the term “factory farms” in 1964 to describe what the ag industry calls “concentrated animal feeding operations”).
6. Sound and texture matter — A string of words that have the same first letter, the same sound or the same syllabic cadence is more memorable than a random collection of sounds (see #5).
7. Speak Aspirationally — Messages need to say what people want to hear. Think of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his “I have a dream” speech. (This can be difficult when addressing the plight of animals. I often speak about rescued animals living on sanctuaries, free from pain and fear. Getting people to visit a sanctuary so they can meet these animals themselves is even better.)
8. Visualize — Plant a vivid image. There is one word in the English language that automatically triggers the process of visualization: imagine. (Asking people to imagine their dog or cat being forced to undergo painful medical tests or to be locked in a wire battery cage for two years and then slaughtered can be a way to help people see things differently.)
9. Ask a question. Luntz cites the dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” as perhaps the most memorable print-ad campaign of the past decade.
10. Provide Context and Explain Relevance. You must give people the “why” of your message before giving them the “therefore” and the “so that.” Some people call this framing, but Luntz prefers the word context.

Sadly, many activists don't use these "rules." In fact, they often speak in an abstract, noninspirational, long, academic way. We all do it sometimes, but we'll never get better unless we realize our mistakes.

Here are a few things I do in vegan blogs that seem to help "sell" veganism:

1. Visualize: I use images and videos often. If there is one single thing every vegan blogger could improve upon, it's the use of videos. We MUST use videos as much as possible, because they are extremely compelling.
   
2. Consistency: I link back to older blog posts and repeat the same message in a new post.
3. Credibility: I stay honest. If I make a mistake and someone calls me on it, I admit the mistake and then fix it.
4. Simplicity: I try to imagine a child or teenager reader. If I think it would make sense to them, then I've done a good job.
   
5. Brevity: There is a place for long blog posts, but I try to say the important stuff up front so if someone's attention span is short, they still get the gist.
6. Novelty: I scan the news for vegan and vegetarian tidbits. This keeps things fresh.
   

Is Graphic Content Effective?

Rachel Becker's PWR 2 final animal advocacy photos:



Essentially, she seems to find that graphic content promotes more empathy and triggers the viewer's desire to contribute towards change. Thus, we shouldn't shy away from using disturbing images when promoting animal rights or veganism.

But, in my opinion, we should always offer a recourse. We shouldn't simply show the factory farm videos and let the viewers draw their own conclusion because the path to apathy is short. We ought to give concrete solutions, like: Go vegan for the animals, for your health, and for the planet.