Great Summer Reads
Are you planning some reading at the beach this summer? By the pool? At a mountain cabin? Or maybe you’re in the southern hemisphere and reading by the fire?
What have you got on tap? Best-sellers? Biographies? A little romance novel? How about research reports?
That’s right. Research reports. Market research studies offer the intrigue of a mystery with the twists and turns of a thriller. And there’s no better self-improvement for animal advocates.
I shared my picks for great summer reads at the Humane Society of the United States’s Animal Care Expo and at the Animal Rights National Conference. In this blog entry and the next one, we’ll look at highlights from the Expo selections. You can get the full list here (PDF), with reminders about resources for every animal advocate.
Spay/Neuter
Whether you’re with a humane organization or a rescue group or just trying to encourage people you know to alter their dogs and cats, it helps to know what does and doesn’t motivate people. Messaging Spay/Neuter: Lessons from the Gulf Coast Spay/Neuter Campaign tells you.
After Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi, Maddie’s Fund and The Humane Society of the United States launched a major research effort in 2006 to find out why people didn’t spay or neuter their animals and what it would take for them to do so. The project included telephone surveys as well as focus groups, where researchers talk with a small group of people to see how they feel about an issue. Although the research included people from the gulf region, the results are broadly applicable across the U.S.
There were some real surprises:
- The leading reasons people hadn’t spayed or neutered their animals was because they hadn’t thought about it much or hadn’t gotten around to it. The second reason was cost. So while some people are opposed to spaying or neutering, a lot of times we just need to help people make it a priority and afford it.
- The most compelling reason to motivate people was the euthanasia of animals in shelters. But the message has to link to a person’s own cat or dog. Otherwise, people assume it’s someone else’s animal that’s going to have puppies or kittens that get put down.
- People did not find celebrities to be credible spokespeople on spay/neuter. They questioned the celebrity’s motivation. The most powerful spokespeople were veterinarians, followed by humane society personnel. That makes sense when we think about spay/neuter as a medical procedure on someone’s beloved dog or cat. They want someone they can trust.
These are just a few of the findings from this important study. The research also includes:
- What types of ads do and don’t motivate people to spay to or neuter.
- How people feel about veterinary offices, spay/neuter clinics and mobile units as places to have their animals altered.
There’s a real disconnect between what advocates think and how the public feels on some of these issues. We are not our target audience. If everyone we were trying to influence already thought the same way we do, they’d already be doing what we want them to do! So if you haven’t read “Messaging Spay/Neuter” (external link to PDF) or even if you haven’t looked at it in a while, plan to spend some time with this oldie but goodie.