Faunalytics, a well-known academic website dealing with animal protection, has selected the research by Laura Fernández, a doctoral researcher of the Centre for Animal Ethics and of the Critical Communication CritiCC research group at the UPF Department of Communication, for a paper published in Journal of Communication Inquiry on 20 June 2020. The article “How Moral Shock Makes An Impression”, echoes its contents.

The work by Laura Fernández presented the results of 60 interviews conducted on vegan animal liberation activists from Sweden, Denmark and Spain, to find out what effect explicit images of animal exploitation had on them and how they used them. The main goal of the research was to consider the effectiveness of visual and audiovisual resources used by activists and the effect of the use of violent images that, according to the author, cause “moral shock”.

The use of violent images has been instrumental in causing the “moral shock” needed to change attitudes towards animal cruelty

The interviewees reported that exposure to visual and audiovisual resources often causes a moral shock reaction, a gut reaction to something ethically terrifying that spurs a person into action. With this, the main objective of Fernández’s was to raise awareness, firstly, towards changing speciesist attitudes and the adoption of veganism, and on the other, to promote action against speciesism and in favour of social activism, and also to ensure that veganism and activism are sustained over time.

Analysis of explicit images of animal exploitation

Images and pictures of animals on farms where they are exploited, at slaughterhouses and in laboratories are key elements of the strategies of animal rights groups worldwide. “Animal liberation activists’ visual output invites reflection on the relationships our society has with other animals who live, suffer and die as objects of human exploitation”, the author states.

Explicit images of animal exploitation can be shocking and are often used by activists both to spread the message and to bring about a change of attitude in society towards the adoption of veganism and activism. Fernández’s study analyses how these communication strategies work.

The findings suggest that the use of violent images depicting cruelty to animals has in many cases proved decisive in adopting veganism, getting involved in activism and in sustaining moral values and practices over time.

Related work:

Laura Fernández (2020), "Images That Liberate: Moral Shock and Strategic Visual Communication in Animal Liberation Activism", Journal of Communication Inquiry, 20 June. https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859920932881