The Vegan Persuasion Problem: What Actually Works to End Animal Consumption?

In this thought-provoking episode, Jasmin and Mariann sit down with Seth Green from Stanford’s Humane and Sustainable Food Lab and Benny Smith from Allied Scholars for Animal Protection to tackle the million-dollar question: how do we actually get people to stop eating animals? The conversation dives into Seth’s fascinating meta-analysis of intervention studies and sparks a passionate debate about what really works in animal advocacy. While the research suggests most current approaches show minimal effectiveness, Benny makes a compelling case for moral persuasion and worldview change as essential components of long-term movement building.

• Meta-analysis reveals most animal advocacy interventions produce only small reductions in meat consumption (typically just a few percentage points)
• Showing animal abuse footage such as that found in “Dominion” appears more effective than other persuasion methods, reducing consumption by approximately 13.5%
• Debate centers on whether to focus on incremental behavior change or transformative worldview shifts that create more vegans and activists
• Historical examples from religious movements suggest successful moral transformations require long-term community building rather than quick fixes
• Speakers explore whether choice architecture, health messaging, or emerging technologies like Ozempic might offer alternative paths to reducing animal consumption

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Seth Ariel Green is a research scientist at the Humane and Sustainable Food Lab at Stanford, a research group dedicated to accelerating the end of factory farming. He lives in Brooklyn NY and blogs at https://regressiontothemeat.substack.com/.

Benny Smith is the Programs Manager at Allied Scholars for Animal Protection, where he was the first full-time hire after graduating from Brown University in 2023.

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