In my last post, I introduced the idea of the 3.5% Threshold of Transformation — the point, identified by political scientist Dr. Erica Chenoweth, at which sustained, nonviolent activism by just 3.5% of a population has been enough to spark lasting social change.
For those of us working toward systemic change in the global food system — including the goal of reducing animal product consumption by 50% by 2040 — that 3.5% represents more than a milestone. It represents the social tipping point that can accelerate everything that follows.
VR1 is built to help the movement reach that threshold — not by waiting for the world to change, but by equipping a focused, growing, and increasingly powerful community of advocates to change it.
And that’s where VR1 comes in.
Defining VR1: An AI-Enhanced Training Program for Vegan Advocates
Vegan Rise One (VR1) is an advocacy training and messaging platform I’ve been developing based on over eight years of academic research and applied work in the fields of media psychology, digital storytelling, and persuasion science. In addition, I spent 35+ years before that as a professional one-on-one communicator (yes, a salesman).
VR1 is designed to do two things:
- Help more vegans become confident, purpose-driven advocates
- Help more advocates become emotionally effective and psychologically strategic
VR1 brings together decades of communication science, the transformative power of story, and carefully integrated AI tools to support advocates in creating messaging that doesn’t just inform — it inspires.
Even when people are aware of the basic facts about animal suffering, climate impact, and plant-based diets, they often turn away or deny what they know — on some level — to be true. VR1 teaches advocates how to move through those psychological barriers.
It is rooted in my own lived journey, the advocacy projects I’ve developed and tested, and the psychological principles I explored in my doctoral dissertation, which I completed at age 69 after a lifelong career and personal transformation.
What Makes a Message Persuasive?
My dissertation explored the power of narrative messaging to challenge dominant myths — specifically the enduring and sanitized story of Christopher Columbus. Using a video I created as part of my graduate practicum, I tested two versions of the same educational content:
- One presented as a traditional lecture
- One embedded within a personal, emotionally resonant story
The goal was to see which approach was more persuasive in changing beliefs. The result? The story-based format outperformed the lecture — but only under specific psychological conditions.
The Key: Narrative Engagement + Openness
The study found that narrative engagement — the extent to which a viewer becomes mentally and emotionally absorbed in the story — was the mechanism through which persuasion occurred. In other words, the message didn’t change minds by presenting better logic. It worked because the viewer entered the story. They stopped resisting, dropped their guard, and opened up.
But not everyone responded the same way. That’s where another factor came in: openness to experience — a personality trait associated with imagination, curiosity, and the willingness to explore new perspectives.
Here’s what the study revealed:
- Narrative engagement was the mediator — it explained why one format was more persuasive than the other.
- Openness to experience was the moderator — it influenced how strong the effect was. People higher in openness experienced greater engagement and, therefore, greater persuasive effect.
This is crucial. Because openness is not binary — it’s not something you have or don’t. It exists on a spectrum. And here’s where things get exciting: while traits like openness are relatively stable, they can be influenced. Messaging itself — if designed well — can encourage people to access the more open parts of themselves.
That’s part of the magic of story. It helps us step into unfamiliar shoes. It helps us lower our defenses. And it helps us entertain ideas we might otherwise reject.
But storytelling in the VR1 framework means more than just long-form narratives or video accounts. We use an expanded definition: storytelling is present in nearly every message we craft — whether it’s a social media meme, a flyer on a sanctuary wall, a blog post, or a comment in an online thread. If it frames meaning, evokes emotion, and invites the audience into a perspective — it’s storytelling.
This is why storytelling is central to VR1’s approach. It isn’t just about format — it’s about function. It’s about the emotional and psychological impact a message has on its audience, no matter how it’s delivered. And it’s how we help advocates move from merely posting content to creating moments of resonance that can lead to real transformation.
Why This Matters for Vegan Advocacy
Most vegan messaging today assumes that if we just present the right facts — about animals, about health, about the environment — people will make the right choice. But the truth is more complicated. People often already know the facts. What they don’t have is a psychological bridge to cross the gap between knowledge and action.
Many advocacy efforts:
- Skip storytelling in favor of data dumps
- Trigger guilt or defensiveness
- Use overly graphic content without emotional guidance
- Fail to meet people where they are, psychologically
This kind of messaging might work for a narrow slice of people — but for the broader population, especially those with lower baseline openness, it often backfires. It creates resistance instead of reflection.
VR1’s Messaging Philosophy: Engage, Empower, Transform
VR1 was built to change that — to offer a framework for animal advocacy that is not just emotionally grounded but psychologically informed.
We teach advocates how to:
- Craft narratives that foster emotional connection
- Use visual and verbal techniques that trigger engagement instead of resistance
- Frame messages that invite openness, rather than demand change
- Identify and communicate with different audience types based on psychological cues
- Shift from “posting content” to creating persuasive experiences
Through our AI-enhanced storytelling tools (currently in development under VRAI), we’ll also help advocates:
- Evaluate the emotional and psychological strength of their content
- Adjust tone, structure, and framing for maximum resonance
- Learn by doing — with feedback grounded in persuasion science, not guesswork
The Feedback Loop to 3.5%
Here’s why this matters for reaching the 3.5% threshold.
When messaging works:
- Vegans are more likely to become advocates
- Advocates are more likely to feel confident and supported
- Their advocacy is more likely to inspire action in others
- And those newly inspired individuals may then become advocates themselves
It becomes a self-sustaining feedback loop — not just more vegans, but more effective advocates creating more vegans who become advocates.
That’s the path to 3.5%. Not through volume alone, but through persuasive, psychologically sound communication that activates transformation.
Closing Thoughts: It’s Not Just What We Say. It’s How We Say It.
If we want to build a kinder world for animals, we can’t afford to waste energy on ineffective outreach. We need messaging that not only reaches people — but moves them.
That’s what VR1 is here to do.
Not just to train advocates.
Not just to promote veganism.
But to shift the movement itself — toward persuasion, empathy, and strategy — so we can reach that tipping point together.
The next post in this series will explore how AI — when thoughtfully designed and ethically guided — can help amplify that mission. Until then, keep telling stories that matter. And keep rising.
Continue the VR1 blog series: In the next post, we introduce VR1 AI — the AI-powered messaging assistant designed to help advocates craft words that move. Discover what makes it more than just a content generator, and how it fits into the broader VR1 strategy.
Next up: Words That Move: How AI Can Empower a New Generation of Vegan Advocates
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