Why does comparing speciesism to human oppression shut people down?

We spend a lot of time crafting messages we believe in. But belief in a message isn't the same as evidence that it works.

With our latest public opinion research, we've released Understanding Narrative Interventions – the second in our series of reports on how people with and without animal companions respond to movement communications. It's the most detailed picture we've built yet of what actually opens people up, and what closes them down.

We tested 13 narrative interventions across focus groups with members of the UK public. Some performed consistently well, others backfired; not because the content was wrong, but because effective messaging depends on understanding where an audience is and what is likely to move them next.

A few things the research makes clear:

• When messages feel like a judgement of who someone is, people stop engaging. They defend themselves, they defend the status quo, and the conversation closes. Identity threat is one of the most reliable routes to reactance, and it shows up in places we don't always expect.
   
• The why has to come before the what next. For audiences earlier on their journey to animal freedom, messages that build understanding of animals' inner lives create the conditions for reflection. Messages that jump straight to behaviour change are more likely to trigger resistance than openness.
   
• Resistance keeps returning to the same two underlying narratives: other animals exist to 'serve a purpose', and that eating animal products is 'necessary for survival'. These aren't surface-level objections. They are deep, structuring ideas. The research gives us much greater clarity on which narratives feed them, which ones challenge them, and for which audiences.

Read the full report

We also published a blog walking through one of the most interesting findings, why comparing speciesism to human oppression tends to shut people down, and what works better.

And here's our LinkedIn post if you'd like to comment or share the findings more widely. 

As always, we'd love to hear how this lands for you and how it connects to your work on the ground. 

Thank you.