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Shockvertising: The Efficacy of Graphic Content on Social Media Campaigns for Animal Rights Non-Profits
Department of Communications Masters Thesis
While shock advertising is omnipresent in our media landscape, the research on its applications for non-profit organizations is minimal. This study evaluated the efficacy of short-form video content in social media campaigns based on shock level, with the goal of assessing and informing advertising tactics for non-profit organizations benefiting animal rights causes.
Participants (n=266) were exposed to six short-form video stimuli of positive, moderate, and shocking content, and responded to post-exposure questions analyzing arousal, willingness to engage with the content, propensity to donate to the organization creating the content, and similarity of content to their native social media feeds. Shocking and moderate stimuli were found to be significantly more arousing (shocking p<0.001; moderate p<0.001), and significantly increased propensity to donate (shocking p<0.001; moderate p<0.001). However, shocking and moderate stimuli were also significantly less similar to participants’ native social media feed content (shocking p<0.001; moderate p<0.001).
Differences between two stimuli within a given shock level revealed higher arousal for both the positive and shocking stimuli when humans were pictured on screen. Additionally, positive stimuli including a human elicited more engagement, propensity to donate, and similarity to native social media feed.
The results of this study were consolidated into a guidebook along with general social media recommendations targeting non-profit organizations, aiming to enhance their media strategy to assist them in raising awareness and funds for their cause. Overall results support using shockvertising for targeted purposes and with consideration for the algorithmic and content regulation context of specific social media platforms.
Thesis PDF Flipbook
Citation
5122592
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Daley, P. (2025).
Shockvertising: The Efficacy of Graphic Content on Social Media Campaigns for Animal Rights Non-Profits [Masters Thesis, Stanford University].
https://thechangelab.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ParkerDaleyThesis2025.pdf
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