PETA – An Animal Research Influencer

One of the most influential social media accounts involved in the animal research sector is PETA.  PETA is an animal rights group that advocates for humane treatment of animals during research.  PETA’s twitter account was created in November of 2007, and they have accrued over one million followers.  The current leader of the organization is Ingrid Newkirk.

It is unclear of whether Newkirk is directly responsible for their social media postings or if it is another member of their community.  Their website is primarily geared towards garnering public sympathy and donations, so there is not a lot of information available regarding the inner workings of the organization.  In fact, there is not a lot of area on their website that doesn’t contain “sob stories” garnered towards public sympathy.

Most of PETA’s posts are visuals and calls to action.  PETA’s posts often include links and urges to donate, and most of the posts also include subtle jabs that are designed to guilt the general public into donating to their cause.  For example, they will provide an image or video showing cruelty in the poultry industry and shame people who consume poultry, and then they will post a donation link or plea directly afterwards.  This pushes viewers who feel guilty about their habits to donate, because donating eases their guilt.

PETA seems to be performing well as a nonprofit because of the aggressiveness of their social media technique.  They post a lot of emotional images and videos that are particularly designed to incite a strong reaction in viewers, which often inspires readers to donate to their cause.  However, a lot of the images and videos that PETA posts are out of context and don’t provide a full backstory.

For example, they recently posted a video showing calves in biosecurity hutches being fed milk replacer in a line.  The video seems cruel because it seems as though the calves are cooped up and separated from their mothers.  However, calves must be separated from each other for biosecurity reasons (to prevent spread of disease and intestinal parasites), and the most spatially efficient option is calf hutches.  In addition, the milk replacer is an unfortunate necessity for adult cows to produce an economically efficient amount of milk.  If a large portion of their milk goes to their calves, unfortunately farmers cannot make a profit.  However, PETA does not explain this information and rather portrays the situation as an intentionally cruel act.

PETA’s most popular tweets are those containing videos of animals, particularly cats and dogs.  Many of the videos that PETA posts are short and do not have much of a background.  They are also captioned in a way that is designed to gain public support for animal rights.  For example, one video of a beagle in a cage was captioned to draw attention to the dog’s shy stance, claiming that most animals in captivity just want to be loved by a family.  There are many other posts also along those lines.  However, they don’t include information about organizations like IACUC that already strictly monitor animal research, particularly in universities.  They also usually don’t provide any additional information regarding the origin of the provided photo.

To improve their account, I think they should post more heart-wrenching videos relating to dogs, cats, and other popular animals.  However, as an animal science major, I think it would be more beneficial for public knowledge if PETA posted more background for each of their posts and their videos.  It would also be more beneficial to the public if PETA posted links for more information regarding each video/research study instead of simply providing a link to donate.  A lot of people don’t understand the true impact that animals have within research.  They are a gateway to human research, and a lot of people have no appreciation for their importance in research.