Introduction
In recent years, climate and animal rights activists have increasingly turned to provocative and disruptive tactics. Actions such as throwing soup on famous paintings or disrupting major sporting events often appear disconnected from their stated goals—what researchers call having “low action logic.”
Activists turn to these methods because they believe they are more likely to capture public and media attention—but are they right? Do these tactics help movements advance their goals?
This new report sheds light on the real impact of these tactics, analysing how different forms of protest influence two key outcomes:
- The level of active support groups receive as a result of their actions, measured through financial donations;
- Media coverage of protest actions.
For the analysis, we focussed on two UK-based activist groups, Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising. Donation data was sourced from the A22 Network, while media coverage data was collected using MediaCloud, an open source platform for media analysis. We applied Bayesian regression analysis to examine both the direct and mediated effects of disruptiveness and action logic on media attention and donations.
Read the full report: Making a Scene and Making Sense: How disruptiveness and logic influence media coverage and support for protests.
Key Findings
1. Protests Drive Donations
Data from Just Stop Oil and Animal Rising reveal that weeks with protests see a significant increase in donations compared to weeks without.
The frequency of protests matters too—each additional protest in a given week is associated with an additional 20 donations.
2. The Role of Disruptiveness and Action Logic
The study categorises protest actions based on their disruptiveness and action logic. Results show that protests that are highly disruptive and have low action logic receive the most media coverage and, in turn, generate more donations. Specifically:
- Protests that appear illogical gain more media attention than those that follow a clear rationale.
- High disruptiveness leads to more donations: a one-unit increase in disruptiveness is associated with 64 additional donations.
- Media coverage also drives donations—meaning protests that capture headlines tend to mobilise more active support.
3. Media Attention as a Mediator
The findings indicate that a key reason disruptive and illogical protests generate donations is their ability to secure media coverage.
While direct effects of disruptiveness on donations exist, an increase in financial support also stems from heightened media attention. Without media coverage, the impact of these protests would very likely be smaller.
A More Nuanced Picture of the Impact of Illogical, Disruptive Protests
This research shows that, while disruptive, illogical protest tactics are often highly controversial and have sparked concerns over potential backlash, they also serve strategic functions, leading to greater levels of media attention and higher levels of active support for the groups carrying them out.
These findings help to balance the narrative that illogical, disruptive tactics are purely detrimental to the cause of social movements.
Further research is needed to determine the extent to which these patterns generalise to other protest groups, movements, and contexts. It is also important to understand the broader effects of illogical and disruptive protests on public opinion.
Evidence has shown that disruptive and provocative tactics can reduce public support—both for the activist groups themselves and for the broader cause they represent (Feinberg et al., 2020; Fuller et al., 2025). Further research in this area will help in assessing the overall balance of advantages and disadvantages of disruptive and illogical protest actions.
Access Full Report
Read the full report PDF: Making a Scene and Making Sense: How disruptiveness and logic influence media coverage and support for protests.
Explore Further
- Action Logic – Beautiful Trouble
- Protest Movements: How Effective are They? – Social Change Lab
- Disruptive Protest Tactics: Helpful or Harmful? Report and Webinar – Social Change Lab
- How to Make Sure Your Disruptive Protest Helps Your Cause – Mark Engler & Paul Engler
- Why Protests Work, Even When Not Everybody Likes Them – Mark Engler & Paul Engler
- Creating Powerful Actions with Strong “Action Logic” – Daniel Hunter, 350.org
- Got Action Logic? Training for Change Handout, by Daniel Hunter – Daniel Hunter
- Strengthen a Campaign with Dilemma Demonstrations – Daniel Hunter
- Campaigning for Social Change: beyond just protesting for it! – Daniel Hunter
- Organising for Effective Non Violent Actions – Brian Martin et al
- Social Change Lab