| Status | Exploratory |
| Primary Work Area | General Animal Advocacy Industrial Agriculture |
| Website | Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund |
| Review Published | December, 2016 |
The Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund aims to promote public awareness of animal cruelty by funding television commercials through mainstream media. They also engage in protests, online outreach, and plan on doing billboards and print ads. Thus far, their TV projects concern cruelty on factory farms. In the future, they also intend to address issues regarding companion animal breeders, fur farms, zoos, circuses, and other animal enterprises. So far, for their TV commercials, they have used footage obtained from other animal rights organizations, but ACEF may develop their own commercials in the future.
The Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund aims to promote public awareness of animal cruelty by funding television commercials through mainstream media. They also engage in protests, online outreach, and plan on doing billboards and print ads. Thus far, their TV projects concern cruelty on factory farms. In the future, they also intend to address issues regarding companion animal breeders, fur farms, zoos, circuses, and other animal enterprises. So far, for their TV commercials, they have used footage obtained from other animal rights organizations, but ACEF may develop their own commercials in the future.
Impact Evaluation:
Clear Need for Funding
All donations to ACEF directly support their media projects. ACEF points out that the meat, dairy, egg, and other animal-based industries spend enormous amounts of money on advertising, and hopes to counteract misleading animal industry ads with truthful ones. The more donations ACEF receives, the more they can air a commercial, in more cities, for more time slots per day, and in prime-time time slots.
Uncertain Effectiveness of Paid Advertising
Limited research is available on the effectiveness of paid advertising for the animal rights movement. We think that billboards and television commercials may be valuable for generating conversations among people who may not otherwise take animal welfare into consideration. It’s likely that some billboards and television commercials generate more conversation than others and little is known about the circumstances in which they generate the most conversation. We are not sure whether television commercials are as effective as other outreach tactics.
To help track the effects of their advertising, ACEF will broadcast a link to their resources page at the end of their upcoming commercials. They plan to track the number of viewers who visit their website as a result of the images they saw on TV.
Limited Track Record
ACEF is a young charity. At the time of this review, they have successfully aired two commercials locally in New York City on NY1 News and Animal Planet, and they aired a third commercial in New York City, Dallas, and Los Angeles, on CNN during the 2016 election season. ACEF’s past and upcoming projects are accessible on their website. We cannot confidently evaluate ACEF’s effectiveness because they do not have a long enough history of success or failure.