From ARmedia to HRC: A Rebranding Case Study

For a brief period in our early history, the Humane Research Council (HRC) was called “ARmedia,” which was short for “Animal Rights Media.” Our original intent was to produce compelling outreach and advertising materials for animal protection groups, but we quickly realized that there was no solid data on which to base the design of effective materials, so we shifted gears to focus on research. Doing so required not only a change in strategy, but also a rebranding to avoid the use of contentious and potentially misleading terms like “animal rights.”

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HRC has conducted some limited research on the differences in perception between the terms “rights,” “welfare,” and “protection.” Somewhat surprisingly, we found little meaningful difference when it came to quantitative research. However, in focus groups and interviews it is common for us to hear people disparage the term “animal rights.” The primary reason that people reject this term seems to be the perceived ambiguity between legal and moral rights, but the term also seems to cause a visceral association with “extreme” activism for many people.

For these reasons and others, when renaming ARmedia we chose to abandon the term “animal rights” in favor of “humane,” which is a term that is both broad and fairly universally accepted, even though it is still somewhat ambiguous. HRC also emphasizes the term “animal protection” in our communications. While being less loaded down with baggage than either “rights” or “welfare,” the term animal protection is also immediately clear to people. Moreover, when taken to its logical conclusion, animals who are truly “protected” are by definition animals who are free of any suffering caused by humans.

As advocates, we must always be conscious of the language that we use. When in doubt, I suggest that animal advocates err on the side of caution and avoid using unnecessarily inflammatory language, which could give the target audience a reason to dismiss our message. And when resources permit, advocates should utilize research to help figure out what language works best with their specific target audience. In the end, the words we use may be almost as important as the actions we choose, and the animals depend on their advocates to get our words right.