The #RSPCA is on the verge of damaging their brand's image in ways that may never be recovered, even in the British, short-term vision & collective, goldfish memory.
I was raised on Blue Peter appeals. They seemed to grip the nation when I was a kid - my imagination & awareness were broadened by campaigns for guide dogs, the suffering children of other countries & the prevention of cruelty to animals. The #RSPCA was always at the forefront of any care for abandoned animals, in particular.
However, just as Body Shop's impact on mainstream society became diluted due to imitations of its own, once revolutionary actions, so the #RSPCA eventually succeeded in getting its point over that a dog isn't just for Christmas.
The problem is that people have too much competing for their donations, and dog rescue & other costly activities don't grab the public's or the media's interests. This, in a scramble for relevance, the #RSPCA has committed 3,high profile violations of its own, long-established brand values.
1.Their reported £300k+ expenditure
on enforcing the fox hunting ban in court was considered by many to be a waste of valuable resources.
2.The #rspcaassured food industry standard appears to many anti-cruelty groups, particularly vegetarians, to sanction animal exploitation.
3.The latest "scandal" involving the #RSPCA involves them unjustly euthanizing a family cat, then attempting to prosecute the family, after concealing evidence.
All three of these cases suggest contradictory strategy by the UK charity & need to be rethought, before irreparable damage is done to their brand image.
