I wish, though, that it would not matter to people if they're vegan, because the whole point is to show non-vegans that they can also do something good for farmed animals, without having to change their diet. So, in the future, I would hope that the pro-animal movement will have mostly non-vegans as members, because there are so few vegans, and so much to do. How will we drive top talent to work for animals, if we expect them to be vegan to run pro-animal campaigns, so that other advocates have a feeling they are the right people to do it? That's very alienating for potential allies to this cause, but I understand why you said that. Just don't think they have to be vegan at all, and that these high expectations are good to have. 

"The wider world tends to have allergic reactions to 'controlled opposition'" - I am unsure. In Poland, one of the most popular marketing campaigns is when one grocery chain is trashing the other - obviously this has been agreed, and Lidl is not suing Biedronka, or Biedronka Lidl, and people really love it :) BMW vs. Audi, Pepsi vs. Coca Cola - also did well globally. So I am unsure if what you say is correct. 

Personally, I admire your integrity and willingness to write this post, despite very strong attacks (not constructive criticism) you endured for thinking outside the box and trying something more risky, which marketing specialists in commercial markets do all the time. This point, I think, is missed. In marketing, controversial campaigns are very common; sometimes they succeed, sometimes they totally fail; it's normal. One of the most successful campaigns in Poland is one big grocery chain -  Lidl, fighting with the other big chain - Biedronka, or I think there is this exchange between two car brands, where one disses the other in commercials. You literally wanted to try a classic marketing strategy that works for the richest brands in the world. I don't think there was anything wrong with the ToC to start with. 

I also don't think you could predict how big the wave of criticism will be. I have been in the animal movement for 25 years, 25 of those vegan as well, and yet I thought the intentions behind this campaign would be much clearer to fellow advocates. It turned out that our community was absolutely not ready for something like that, despite, as I said, it being a classical marketing strategy, and despite the goal being to help animals via counterfactual donations (donations that would not otherwise happen without this specific campaign, potentially coming from non-vegans).

I think the momentum for this campaign was stolen from you, so you could never really finish the ToC and see whether it would have been successful if you were not blocked by the movement. You getting donations is very interesting - as James mentions here, would this not suggest that there are some people who actually decided to donate because of the campaign? But the result obviously was much less than you probably had in mind. Still, it seems like you have not lost any money, and there might be some positive effects for Veganuary as well. 

I agree, the planning could be better, but it seems to me that with $3.3 million raised in 2025, a 2.94x counterfactual multiplier, and a 13.27x non-counterfactual, Farmkind is really in a good position to take risks and make mistakes. 

So good <3 Thanks so much!

I was wondering what you're up to, Jamie! Great role for you. 

Thanks for this post, Rika. As a person who witnessed what you had to go through over the years I can say this post does not even give justice of how resilient you were in all those circumstances... and also how stupid current systems are in this world, and how unfair, discriminatory and unjust it is that a person like you had to have such limitations imposed on you.

I am privileged to hold an EU passport, and it makes a significant difference in my ability to function in the EA space, but I moved late to the UK, and it also has its downsides, being born in Poland. Fingers crossed on getting permanent residence in the UK  and also for a great career and huge impact. 

Overall, a lot of good advice is shared here, and it's a great topic to bring up - a much more realistic overview of the EA career if you're outside the EU/UK/US/ easier passport areas.

@Zachary Robinson🔸 Wouldn't it make sense for CEA to quickly establish a more cause-neutral job board, career advisory articles, and career advisory services? Maybe 80,000 Hours will be even happy to share code/content, to make it easier for the EA community to transition. 
Given that the whole community is on the EA Forum, it would be great to link to those products directly from here. 
It's a shame, though, because 80K has enormous reach and marketing successes, and building this from scratch will take a lot of time and money. 

Questions: 

1. How much have you invested in the project already vs. how much donations did you get?
2. Are you utilizing paid ads? If no, why not? If yes, what are the results of your campaigns?
3. What is your overall marketing strategy to grow FarmKind? 
    

Can you make this into a small book (the size of the Peter Singer turkey one) and distribute everywhere :) 

Which ones?