Okay, people. I’m veering a bit off topic today, because I want to discuss one of my other favorite topics: animals!

Side note: are you wondering how I could possibly have so many favorite things? ‘Cause I am.

Anyway, I wanted to do a little comparing and contrasting for the advertising options that animal shelters have, and discuss how each kind can affect the reputation of a shelter. Do you remember that one commercial from a few years back from the ASPCA? The background song was like, “In the aaaarms of the angels…” and it made everyone want to cry?

Here’s a little refresher:

Remember now?

The interesting thing about this commercial is that nearly everyone who watched regular television back when it debuted remembers it to this day. It was so heart-wrenching to watch that people simply can’t forget it. I don’t know if it was necessarily the “first” of its kind, but it made such an impact that it sure seems like it was.

So, my question is: is that the best way for an animal shelter to ask for donations? Obviously there’s other avenues. I recently researched a nonprofit called the Oregon Humane Society, and they actually limit their advertising of abused and neglected animals as much as possible. Instead, they did the complete opposite; their website is full of pictures of happy animals.

This is a screenshot of Oregon Humane’s homepage, just for comparison purposes. If you delve deeper into their website, you’ll see the same overarching theme of happy animals — not sad — even though the two organizations do much of the same work.

Which is more effective? Is it better to have a commercial that makes everyone want to cry and/or look away? Or, is it better to show animals enjoying their lives after being saved? ASPCA made something that people can’t forget, but is that memory a good one?

The ASPCA may not have meant to do this, but the reputation that they created for themselves is rather negative. I don’t mean that they did something wrong in the making of that video, but they caused society to feel sad when thinking about their organization. They’re keeping it up, too. A look at their website shows many pictures of animals behind bars.

Meanwhile, Oregon Humane Society focuses on telling the happy stories of animals. They do speak out about some abuse/neglect cases, but that’s not their entire focus. You can leave their website feeling happy.

Doing a little research tells me that in 2018, the ASPCA received over $100 million in donations. The Oregon Humane Society received over $12 million. Now, we’re talking about a national versus state organization. But, it’s interesting to look at the differences there. What if the Oregon Humane Society was national, and it received $12 million in donations from every state? Just a thought.

I don’t know if donations would increase or decrease for the ASPCA if it approached advertising with a bit more positivity. However, I do know that they’re known for making people feel sad. And my personal experience with the Oregon Humane Society’s advertising approach is that it makes me feel happy.

It’s up to personal discretion which way is “better”, but personally, I think it’s better to make people feel positive about the work that is being done to save the animals.