The art of persuasion: animation, activism, and emotional truth
A conversation with Rob Pownall on 10 years of Protect the Wild and the power of reaching hearts through storytelling
Hi again,
This second email arrives with a sense of celebration, urgency, and movement, quite literally, as I write this on the Eurostar, heading to Cologne for the International Federation of Theatre Research conference (more on that below).
But first, something special.
Last month marked ten years since Rob Pownall founded what is now Protect the Wild; one of the UK’s most dynamic and recognisable voices in wildlife protection and anti-hunting campaigning. I sat down with Rob for a conversation that reflects on those ten years, from the early spark of anger at a fox hunting petition, to building a creative and strategic non-profit that reaches millions.
You can listen to the full podcast episode here
Storytelling, strategy, and the rise of animalations
What struck me most in our conversation was the clarity and tactical precision behind Protect the Wild’s use of animation, what Rob calls a “hack” for breaking through algorithmic noise and audience resistance.
These short, emotional films, often narrated by well-known voices, are more than creative expressions. They’re strategic communication tools. They bypass censorship rules on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. They soften the delivery of difficult truths without diluting the message. And they work.
A Trail of Lies - narrated by Chris Packham
This conversation builds on themes I’ve been exploring throughout the Performing Animal Rights project: how different forms of performance, drag, street theatre, protest art, and film, can disrupt speciesist norms and reach new audiences.
If you’re new here, you might want to check out some of my earlier essays like:
Viral Humour in Animal Rights: Exploring Satire in Animal Rights with Molly Elwood and Jake Yapp
The Role of Witnessing in Performance: From the Stage to the Slaughterhouse
Licence, aesthetics, and the emotional threshold
In our discussion, Rob and I explored the idea of audience licence, a term I’ve been exploring in interviews and research.
Put simply, some forms of art give us permission to engage. Drag, for example, often invites sass, satire, and emotional release. Animation carries with it a sense of safety and story. When we watch a cartoon, we’re primed for metaphor. For many, that makes it easier to watch a hound get shot in animated form than in real footage, even if both represent the same reality.
This builds on conversations I’ve had with artists like Daniel Hellmann, who uses drag to deliver heavy truths without alienating audiences. The medium matters. It’s not about sugarcoating suffering, but about choosing the best aesthetic and emotional route to help people stay with it long enough to care, and act.
Data, emotion, and reaching beyond the echo chamber
One of the most exciting parts of this episode is how Rob shares the backend story: what the data tells us, how retention graphs inform storytelling, and how animations can lead directly to thousands of petition signatures and new supporters.
It’s a perfect example of what I call performing for persuasion, not in a manipulative way, but in a way that fuses empathy, embodiment, and evidence.
And it challenges a long-held concern in some activist circles, that artistry is a luxury or an afterthought. Here, artistry is the strategy.
Cologne, here I come
As I write this, I’m on my way to Cologne to present at the International Federation of Theatre Research as part of the Performance in Public Spaces working group.
My paper focuses on public performances of animality, things like vigils, protest actions, and performance art that take place in everyday civic spaces. I look at how the carnivalesque (a concept from Mikhail Bakhtin) can be used to disrupt dominant narratives about non-human animals and create shared spaces of grief, imagination, and resistance. I’ll share more reflections from the conference in the next newsletter, including a new performance philosophy concept I am developing around animality and interspecies entanglements (and airing for the first time in Cologne).
Until then, thank you for reading, listening, and sharing this work. And if you haven’t yet heard the conversation with Rob, I really recommend it. It’s full of insight, humour, and hard-won lessons about how art and activism can walk hand in hand.
With care,
Ben