PETA - Persuasion Techniques

What I want PETA to do?

I have decided to focus on PETA contacting higher organisations that in turn hold more power. 

At the moment, PETA does well in getting their message across to a wide range and a large audience. However this targeted audience has minimal actual impact. PETA focus on petitions and protests that is effective in raising awareness and railing people and getting a reaction, what they fail to do is reach the attention of higher and more dominant companies that actually may be able to may a change. So what I want PETA to start doing – is raise awareness and even make partnerships with organisations that deal with animal cruelty (such  as companies that are known for testing on animals etc). This may seem like a bold and slightly ‘strange’ or even ‘risky’ move by associating themselves with companies that have a reputation that is exactly the opposite of what PETA represents. 

PETA have recently decided to become a shareholder with Prada, who are openly known for using animal skins for their products and their reason for this: ‘PETA has become a Prada shareholder in order to attend the company’s annual meetings and officially call for an end to all exotic-skins sales’. Their method is to target major organisations from the inside. By having a seat within meetings held, they can voice their opinions to Prada and actually be heard. You cant avoid someone when they are sitting right in front of you...

Persuasion Techniques:

My first persuasion technique can be found in Andrews, Van Leeuwen & Van Baaren’s Hidden Persuasion book, which discusses 33 different psychological influence techniques used in advertising. This technique is known as ‘Foot-In-The-Door’. This is when someone or an organization begins with a small request that then paves the way for compliance to a bigger request.

This is a great techniques for PETA to adopt, as it is partially what they have already done with Prada, they have started with a small step and in this case have literally got their foot in the door of the company, but Prada are probably unaware of what to expect, they are not to know that through this they have allowed them to be present in major decisions meaning that Prada have ultimately given PETA a lot more power than they realise.

It is simple how this can be implemented, as they have already proven it is possible. It is not yet been confirmed how effective this strategy is as PETA have not had a chance to meet with Prada yet, but there first board meeting is waiting promptly. So the results will be visible soon and we can see for ourselves if this is a successful strategy.

Other slight differentiations/alternatives of this technique are the ‘Rationalisation Trap’, ‘Bait-and-Switch’, ‘Ben-Franklin Effect’ and the ‘Low-Ball Technique’.

My second persuasion technique is ‘social proof’. This is where people have an innate drive to copy others’ decisions and behaviour. This can also be found in the same book as previously mentioned.

In our modern day, Western culture is extraordinarily individualistic. We believe that our actions are out own and that our decisions are driven by private needs. However humans are social animals: Across the ages we have depended on groups to survive and other people’s behavior is highly informative for successfully choosing our own course of action. Given this firmly held belief that we are our own masters, it may seem paradoxical that social proof is particularly powerful as an influence technique. However it is due to this belief that we are less prepared to defend ourselves against social pressures.

It is common knowledge that PETA has a high online following and their close attention to there many social platforms is exactly how they become so popular and built their reputation. Social media is a key communication technique and PETA have definitely used it to their advantage in the past and are still using it in an effective way. When people see their friends or celebrities or people they may consider role models liking or supporting PETA then they will feel more inclined to do so too. It is in our nature to copy other peoples desired behaviour.

This can be implemented in many ways. It can be used on all of the social media platforms that PETA uses; Facebook, Twitter, blogs and Instagram etc. They are already good with their social media and their following, it just needs to be reinforced and continued.

Other concepts that are related to social proof are ‘Asch Line Length Experiments’, ‘Autokinetic Effect’, ‘Bandwagon Effect’, ‘Bystander Effect’, ‘Copycat Suicides’ and ‘Information Cascade”.

Other techniques that could have potential to work for PETA are:

• ·      Acknowledge Resistance
• ·      Attractiveness
• ·      Scarcity
• ·      Fleeting Attraction
• ·      Mere Exposure
• ·      Astroturfing
• ·      Anthropomorphism
• ·      Implementation Intentions
• ·      Authority
• ·      Loss vs Gain Framing
• ·      Fear Appeals
• ·      Projection
• ·      Door-in-the-Face
• ·      Subliminal Messaging