A longstanding and ever-important focus of animal advocacy, wild animal conservation includes efforts to combat the exotic animal trade, which makes up 20% of the global wild animal trade. Exotic companion animals and animals used for entertainment in places like zoos and circuses are examples of this harmful trade put into practice, one that hurts animals and impacts biodiversity. To combat the trade, advocates often use strategic communication like advertising campaigns to engage the public and encourage them to support conservation efforts.

Most prior research on strategies to engage the public has examined broad effects on populations. This approach masks differences between individuals, including their values and beliefs, that are key to encouraging their action and participation. Recognizing a need for more tailored advocacy messaging, a group of researchers wanted to test how different types of messages about wild animal conservation would influence the intentions and actions of people with different stances on wild animal protection. They also wanted to understand people’s motivations and barriers to taking action.

Putting Audience Grouping To The Test

The researchers recruited 2,953 adults of various ages, income levels, races, and political affiliations to take a survey. After asking each participant about their level of commitment to wild animal protection, the researchers grouped participants into four categories based on their responses:

• Early adopters selected the “I am a voice for wildlife” statement
• Early majority picked the “I strongly support societal action to protect wildlife” statement
• Late majority chose the “I am willing to support societal action to protect wildlife” statement
• Laggards agreed with either the “I am indifferent to wildlife protection” statement or the “I don’t support societal action to protect wildlife” statement

These categories represent how quickly people tend to adopt a new idea or behavior.

The researchers created three visual narratives:

1. The first outlined the negative impacts of the exotic animal trade on the environment, animal welfare, public health, and legality;
2. The second emphasized the power of collective action in combating the exotic animal trade; and
3. The third was neutral and explained the history and relationship between humans and exotic animals.

Participants read one randomly assigned narrative before answering questions about their intent to support protection efforts, including not visiting wild animal entertainment, signing and sharing a petition, and joining a protest. The survey also recorded participants’ click-through actions to sign and share a petition and sign up for a protest.

At the end of the survey, over half of the participants answered an optional question about their reasons for supporting or not supporting wild animal protection.

Mindful Messaging Matters In Animal Advocacy

The impact of the different messages varied based on which group read them and what action the participants indicated they would take. Except for those who already identified as voices for wild animals (early adopters), people who received either the message about the negative consequences of the exotic animal trade or the positive effects of collective action generally expressed greater intent to avoid wild animal visitation. These first two messages also influenced people’s intent to sign and share petitions. However, only the message about collective action influenced participants to want to attend a protest.

When it came to actually taking action, the same two messages influenced the self-identified wild animal advocates (early adopters) to sign a petition. Only the message about collective action influenced the early majority — those who said they strongly support societal action for wild animal protection, but didn’t quite identify as vocal advocates.

People Hold Many Values And Motives Behind Action Or Inaction

People who identified as a voice for wild animals or strongly supported wild animal protection (early adopters and early majority) explained being driven by a love for animals and concern for protecting the environment. On the other hand, those who strongly supported or were willing to support wild animal protection (early majority and late majority) valued the ease of taking action.

Responses also varied for why people didn’t take action: those who identified as wild animal protection supporters (early adopters and early majority) noted barriers such as not having enough resources, including time or information, while those who were willing to support, were indifferent, or didn’t support (late majority and laggards) commonly said wild animal protection was a low priority. Interestingly, these last two groups also expressed an appreciation for animals, but believed wild animal entertainment doesn’t harm animals and benefits conservation and education.

Across the groups, participants expressed uncertainty about the impact of their actions as a factor that prevented them from taking action.

Understand Your Audience, Diversify Your Strategy, Maximize Your Impact

Overall, the researchers found that different advocacy messages had varying effects on people’s intentions and behavior to support wild animal protection based on the message, a person’s existing beliefs, and the encouraged action. This study only surveyed U.S. participants, and values, beliefs, and motivators for action vary by region and culture. However, it highlights an important component of advocacy: thoughtfully targeting different audiences.

For example, messages about the mistreatment of animals in wild animal entertainment could help educate people who don’t currently support wild animal protection, but love animals and may not fully understand the harm of wild animal entertainment. To appeal to people who support societal action, but aren’t already voices for wild animals (early and late majority), focusing on the ease of taking action could be more effective. By considering diverse values and motivations and targeting them accordingly, animal advocates can mobilize more people to support private and civic action for animal protection efforts.