“To Adopt or Not to Adopt, That is the Question”: Are Social Marketing Strategies Effective to Stimulate Animal Adoption?

Thousands of animals are abandoned each year in Portugal. Shelter associations as kennels or catteries dependent on municipal or parish councils are overcrowded and with limited conditions to warrant a good quality of life to all sheltered animals, despite their continuous and relentless efforts. This paper builds on how social marketing and its techniques, working on communication strategies through social media content and followers’ engagement, become relevant in the promotion of animal adoption from shelters. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to present the results of a case study of a social marketing strategy employed by a Portuguese non-for-profit organization dedicated to provide shelter for abandoned animals and promote careful and responsible adoption. It explores the potential of social media within social marketing campaigns to alter individuals’ attitudes and behaviours regarding animal abandonment and adoption in desirable ways. This study contributes to the literature on social marketing, addressing animal abandonment, a theme that has been scarcely explored in the area. Two research methods were developed simultaneously: (a) a survey about animal adoption to 312 respondents; (b) a case study of a Portuguese Animal Shelter Association (ASA), including a netnographic approach to 90 social media publications, which generated 8,637 reactions through emojis, 345 comments with positive feelings, 77 comments with negative feelings, resulting in 11,389 shares. The findings allowed identifying the reasons that most motivate individuals and families to adopt animals instead of purchasing them. The most important reason pointed out by the respondents was empathy for the animals’ often-precarious situation and life story triggered by a social media publication, which not previously suggested in the literature. Second, identifying the most relevant elements in the online communication that influenced animal adoption, which is Publications, where photographs and videos of animals are shared. Finally, finishing with a set of recommendations that might lead to the desired social behavioural change explored in this study, i.e., animal adoption.