SAFE speeds up pigs campaign with digital technology

The speed of digital media has allowed a “freedom for pigs” campaign to quickly raise public awareness of intensive pig farming in New Zealand.

SAFE (Save Animals from Exploitation) received unprecedented public support following the exposure of squalor-like farming conditions on TVNZ’s Sunday programme on May 17.

Director of SAFE Anthony Terry says digital media has enabled the organisation to work at speeds and reach audiences it found impossible 10 to 15 years ago.

“This week New Zealand knows what a sow stall is. Last week they didn’t,” says Terry.

He says the speed and functionality of digital media has made media relations more seamless.

“The idea in today’s media is to have it now. Tomorrow it is old. To be able to generate, package and prepare raw data in a short space of time allows it to be a now story and attractive to the media.”

Video footage of comedian Mike King’s visit to a North Island pig farm was filmed by Open Rescue, a small team of volunteers that investigates farms.

The footage, captured on digital video, was of high enough resolution to be used on the Sunday programme. Images were then used again on SAFE’s promotional posters.

“There used to be no way to go into a farm and document. Our opportunity to capture was very limited,” says Terry.

SAFE ran a television advertisement directly after Sunday. Within 45 minutes it received $4000 in donations via its website.

On Monday, SAFE’s website received 100,000 hits in eight hours.

Terry says the internet has increased its ability to raise awareness of animal rights.

“To communicate a message 10 years ago we were relying on a few seconds of TV time. Now a 10 minute doco style video can reach 10,000 people via the internet in a short space of time.”

SAFE has only put focus on its web presence over the past two years. The organisation now has five websites.

“I was not convinced it had sufficient value until I saw our website was getting over one million hits a year,” Terry says.

When he considered how much work it would otherwise take to reach one million people he had “a quick realisation the website needed investment”.

SAFE now has several Facebook pages. Its main page has 810 members.

Terry says it plays a role for “alliance and agreement” between animal rights supporters who, he says, can feel isolated in society.

When Te Waha Nui Online visited Terry’s home to interview him he was monitoring media online and had just emailed out a press release.

He says that to send out a press release when he joined SAFE, 20 years ago would mean printing out a list of phone numbers, sitting at a fax machine for two hours and then following each one up by phone.

Now he has it typed, proofed overseas, and sent to a database of 300 people within 45 minutes.

He was unconcerned if he missed television coverage because he could watch it on the internet after the interview.

“I used to have to go to the library to monitor media releases. Now they are all online within half an hour.”

Terry ran SAFE from Australia for three years. He continues to use Skype teleconferencing for meetings with campaign director Hans Kriek in Christchurch.

“The difference [the internet] makes is dramatic. It is an important cost effective tool.”

Other NGOs such as Oxfam are also utilising digital media to connect with the public.

Jason Garman, spokesperson for Oxfam New Zealand, says “digital technology is an absolutely crucial piece of our toolkit”.

“It used to be a big deal to go out and communicate with our members. [The internet] is a way to keep a large number of people informed in a more timely manner”

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