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Why are U.S. presidential candidates running a ton of Facebook ads about animal cruelty?

The reason is animal posts rule the internet. Circulating petitions is a common fundraising technique, drawing people to campaigns' websites and acquiring the contact information of signees.

AARON HOLMES: ‘On the campaign trail, presidential candidates rarely spend time talking about ending animal cruelty. Their Facebook ads, however, tell a different story. Many 2020 candidates are using Facebook ads about animal rights to capitalize on an issue that’s proven to drive engagement on the social network. President Donald Trump and former mayor Mike Bloomberg have run animal rights ads the most heavily, while other candidates have run ads featuring cute pictures of their own pets.

There’s a straightforward explanation for why candidates are embracing animal content on Facebook, even as they rarely address animal rights on the campaign trail: animal posts rule the internet. Research suggests that the human brain is wired to respond with unique attentiveness to the sight of animals, and countless online brands have tapped into this appetite for animal content — The Dodo, an animal-centric media brand founded in 2014, drives over 2 billion video views per month on Facebook…

Circulating petitions is a common fundraising technique, drawing people to campaigns’ websites and acquiring the contact information of signees. According to The Guardian’s report, nearly 10% of Trump’s Facebook ads include a call to sign a petition… Trump’s reelection campaign has run more ads about animal rights than any other campaign, running 450 different ads about ending cruelty to animals.

Most of Trump’s ads tout his decision in November to sign a bipartisan bill making acts of animal cruelty a federal crime. According to Facebook’s ad archive, the campaign has paid to circulate those ads more than 2,000 times… Bloomberg has bought more Facebook ads than any other politician or business this year, pouring more than $23.7 million into ads on the platform… and has run nine different ad campaigns about animal rights in the past month alone. The ads feature wide-eyed puppies and kittens alongside a bold message: “MIKE SAVES ANIMALS”.’ SOURCE…

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