READERS FOR THIS BOOK:
Framing Farming: Communication Strategies for Animal Rights is not one of the many books designed to tell readers why and how to eat vegan. Instead, it is designed for those who want to examine strategic choices for animal rights and environmental advocacy and consider how to shift society toward an animal-free diet. The book should appeal to:
  • Animal advocates
  • Vegans and vegetarians
  • Communication practitioners (advertising, P.R., marketing)
  • Communication scholars (both rhetoric and media studies)
  • Critical animal studies scholars
  • Environmental activists and scholars
  • Social justice and social change activists
  • Sociologists
  • Food studies scholars
  • Philosophy scholars (especially in applied ethics)
  • Psychology scholars interested in values and identity
  • Animal exploiting industry employees paid to keep tabs on the animal rights movement, who hopefully will eventually follow their hearts and switch teams
  • Smart people who like important books that can inspire change.

As a blind, peer-reviewed scholarly book, it is appropriate to use in both graduate and undergraduate classes.
ABSTRACT FROM THE BACK COVER:
Framing Farming questions the extent to which animal rights activists should promote animal rights when attempting to persuade meat-lovers to stop eating animals.

Contributing to a classic social movement framing debate, Professor Freeman examines the animal rights movement’s struggles over whether to construct farming campaign messages based more on utility (emphasizing animal welfare, reform and reduction, and human self-interest) or ideology (emphasizing animal rights and abolition). Freeman prioritizes the latter, “ideological authenticity,” to promote a needed transformation in worldviews and human animal identity, not just behaviors. This would mean framing “go veg” messages not only around compassion, but also around principles of ecology, liberty, and justice, convincing people that “it’s not fair to farm anyone.” 

Through a unique frame analysis of vegan campaign materials (from websites, to videos, to bumper stickers) at five prominent U.S. animal rights organizations, and interviews with their leaders, including Ingrid Newkirk and Gene Baur, Freeman answers questions, such as: How is the movement defining core problems and solutions regarding animal farming and fishing? To which values are activists appealing? Why have movement leaders made these visual and rhetorical strategic choices – such as deciding between appealing to human self-interest, environmentalism, or altruism? To what extent is the animal rights movement actually challenging speciesist discrimination and the human/animal dualism? 

Appealing to both scholars and activists, Framing Farming distinctively offers practical strategic guidance while remaining grounded in animal ethics and communication theory. It not only describes what 21st century animal rights campaigns are communicating, it also prescribes recommendations for what they should communicate to remain culturally resonant while promoting needed long-term social transformation away from using animals as resources.