Staging a Circus Protest: Best Practices

1)      Do keep it peaceful – if parents are already there with their kids, then they are usually committed to going to the circus. People who yell at them, become hostile, confront them, or make them feel bad for attending will be met with parents who become defensive and in turn do not want to hear what you have to say.

2)      Do know your audience – the worst thing for a kid is to be told they get to go see circus animals and then they don’t. Now – I’m not saying we should allow that for the kids, but consider it from the parents perspective – they have got their child excited about this event. They don’t want to then tell their kids “Sorry, we are not going in after all.” Again, as in number 1, don’t focus so much on saying things like “You shouldn’t go in there, that’s bad” etc. Say things along the lines of “Would you consider something else next time?” and have a pamphlet in hand to give them with a collection of local activities and attractions they can attend with their children that doesn’t involve the use of animals.

3)      Don’t be offensive – be careful with the pictures that you use on signs. Yes – a profound picture can make an impact, but anything graphic will upset the children, which in turn will upset the parents who are most likely to chalk you off to being extremists. And again, they will focus more on the fact that you are showing those pictures to their children than the actual contents of those pictures or their meaning. Also, we are protecting the best interest of the animals – beings that cannot speak up for themselves while being victimized. We shouldn’t, in a sense, emotionally/mentally victimize children by forcing them to view photos that they will find confusing and scary.

Generally, we leaflet rather than protest. What that means is that we will be there at the circus with pamphlets about the treatment of the animals in hand and will ask the parents and circus-goers if they would like some information about the animals and hand them  the pamphlet. This way it is non-confrontational, and they can read it by themselves without worrying that their kids are being subjected to offensive material. Their first instinct will always be to protect their child, and if their defenses are up because they feel that their children are being accosted or upset, they will not be focusing on the message. Remember, you catch more flies with honey. Having the parents take your flyer to read later is the victory, not having them turn around and change their mind right then and there. That is just the cherry on top.