There is good evidence that protests can both increase the salience of an issue and make the general public more sympathetic to the cause of protesters.
JAMES OZDEN & SAM GLOVER: Many animal advocacy groups use protest as a way of gaining media coverage and drawing attention to the plight of animals. Last year, 500 people gathered at Smithfield Market, the largest wholesale meat market in the U.K., as part of an Animal Rebellion demonstration against the meat industry — and received widespread media coverage. The Humane League has held protests outside of McDonald’s stores to draw attention to large-scale animal cruelty. Animal Charity Evaluators has estimated that there are 40 to 80 animal advocacy protests per week in the U.S. alone.
But do protests actually have any impact? There is some evidence that they can: on public opinion, on voting habits, on legislation, and on public discussion around an issue. That being said, some people worry that protests can actually backfire — that they draw negative media attention and turn people away from the issues that the protesters are highlighting. This is definitely a valid concern, and the evidence suggests it’s probably true that certain kinds of extreme protest can backfire. We also want to try to figure out what factors make protests more likely to be successful, and the research we’ve done indicates that protests are more likely to succeed if they are well-organized, if the general public sides with the protesters, and if they are peaceful…
After carrying out an initial review of some of the literature on which protest movements are most likely to be successful, we believe there are a few characteristics of protests that animal welfare advocates should look out for when deciding which protests to support. Firstly, research from Wasow and Feinberg et al. suggests that non-violent protest is probably more effective in getting the public to lend their support to protesters. Secondly, research from Mirowsky and Ross suggests that successful protests are likely to be carried out by well-organized groups, and have lots of people in attendance —smaller protests are less likely to bring about policy changes or get the attention of the media. Thirdly, research from Agnone suggests that protest movements are more likely to be successful if they choose an issue that the public already sides with them on — for instance, animal advocates could protest against the use of cages in farming…
This evidence suggests that to maximize their effectiveness, animal welfare advocates ought to plan protests that are not perceived as extreme by the general public, with a total commitment to not use violence during protests or demonstrations. The examples of animal welfare protests at the beginning of this article organized by The Humane League and Animal Rebellion are probably more likely to change public opinion than more extreme forms of protest. Successful protest movements are also likely to be well-organized, with clear governance and processes. Mirowsky and Ross (1981) show that if a protest movement has a formal bureaucracy, it is much more likely to be recognised by political actors as legitimate…
Protest Movements are also probably more likely to succeed when their cause is popular with the public. A 2007 paper by Jon Agnone proposed the Amplification Model, suggesting that legislators become more likely to pass legislation on an issue when there public opinion favors action and there are protests taking place. There are quite a few issues relating to animal welfare that are likely to be good candidates here. A YouGov poll carried out in October 2020 found that a substantial majority of people in the EU agree that using cages in farming is cruel to the animals being farmed, and disagree with the statement ‘using cages in farming is acceptable.’
For animal advocates, protest can be a valuable way of drawing attention to an issue and shifting public opinion. We think there is good evidence that protests can both increase the salience of an issue and make the general public more sympathetic to the cause of protesters. There is also some evidence that protest can influence legislators and change voting behavior. It is possible that some types of extreme protests are counterproductive, so advocates interested in effective action should support protest movements that use nonviolent methods. Other factors that advocates should consider when deciding which protest movements they should support include whether the aims of the protest align with the views of the general public, and whether a protest movement is well-organized with clear and specific demands. SOURCE…
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