Georgina Whiteley conducted audience research for her documentary on orcas in captivity. Her primary target audience is teens aged 16-24, with a focus on females. A survey of 25 potential viewers found that most were female, empathetic, and against keeping orcas captive. While a third had seen orcas in aquariums, nearly all said they would be open to changing their views after watching the documentary. The research shows Georgina's documentary would appeal most to younger, female viewers concerned with animal welfare issues.

1. Audience Research
Georgina Whiteley

2. Secondary Audience research
Age – 16 -24
In a news article from inews.co.uk (2017), it states that the younger generation of
teens are a lot more open minded and susceptible to change in beliefs compared to
older generations. Twitter is full of young people standing up and fighting broken
system and societal expectations, as shown by the tweet to the right. The example
used by the author, Richard Vaughan, also states how this is shown through political
topics, but this can also be applied to other issues, such as the one of Orcas in
captivity which is my focus.
This shows that my target audience would be more inclined to take my
documentary seriously and genuinely pay attention before forming an opinion,
instead of going in with a closed mind. This means that my documentary could
prove to be very successful with my target audience.
My product will appeal to this type of audience because a younger generation that
has a very activist outlook is always looking for things to change and improve, and
protest against things they believe are not right. Though older generations may not
have an issue with orcas in captivity as they were less educated and it’s just
accepted to them, this generation would be drawn to documentaries like mine,
questioning the ethicality of many normalized situations, like captive orcas.
Gender – Female and Male, Mostly Female
A paper published in 2007 states that research has shown women to feel more
empathy than men. Though it also states that men and women are equally
forgiving, my product focuses mostly on evoking empathy from my audience so it
would appeal more to females. Furthermore, this comment from Reddit highlights
the difference in how men and women feel towards animals and the gender
stereotypes that accompany it.
This shows me that in terms of audience, females are more likely to express
emotion towards my documentary and back it up due to the higher feeling of
empathy than males ad the added stereotype that they seem to care for animals
more. Though males are also shown to caring for animals, women are much more
likely to express it due to societal expectations.
Due to my target audience being both genders, leaning more towards females, it
would definitively appeal in the aspect of it handles a sensitive subject where
animals are in danger/pain, which can evoke a lot of empathy from both genders.
Though, due to the research in 2007 and the stereotype, it will appeal more to the
female side of my audience than male.

3. Secondary Audience research
Economic Status + Class – middle – upper class
The video ‘The Impacts of Social Class: Crash Course Sociology #25’ brings up the
divide between upper and working class in America, and how this impacts education
and likelihood to challenge unethical normalized occurrences. It states that the
upper class have more time to educate their children properly and provide a good
home life due to less money issues, which leads to a better mindset. The lower class
is the opposite, having a socially conservative mindsets which leads to less empathy
and susceptibility to change.
My audience will be mostly middle to upper class, and this research shows that they
will be the ideal audience for my documentary as they are most likely to feel
empathy for the Orcas and be susceptible to change. Their educated and socially
progressive mindset enables this.
My product would appeal to an audience of higher class as it’s educational as well
as campaigning for awareness on mistreatment of animals. This combines both
better education that’s associated with the upper-class, and the ability to make
choices for themselves while watching the factual video. However, there will always
be exceptions, such as working class people could perhaps feel more empathy as
they themselves have experienced struggle.
Location - America
The biggest campaigns for captive Orca freedom occur in America. As shown on the
website Orca Network, there are many events, taking place primarily in places near
aquariums with Orcas, such as Miami or San Diego. These protests seem to heavily
influenced by location, as people further away from where the Orcas are don’t
seem to have much of an interest, especially in countries such as the UK where
having orcas in captivity is already illegal.
My audience would most likely be people who live in these prime protest locations.
Though people who live far away may be interested in the welfare, it would have
most impact on people who are local and can actually make a difference by
protesting and boycotting aquariums such as Miami Seaquarium and SeaWorld.
The appeal to my audience wouldn’t be affected much by location, but it’ll definitely
have sort sort of impact, especially by viewers who actually want to help rather than
just watching for educational purposes. People in locations close to the aquariums
holding the orcas could be more inclined to want to watch my documentary is it’s
more personal to them, and they may want to check how ethical their trips to the
aquarium are. This would be especially prominent in younger audiences.

4. Secondary Audience research
Personality – Reformer
Reformers are type 1 personalities. They are companionate and ethical and want t
change things in order to better the world. They are portrayed in the video ‘The
Reformer Enneagram Type 1’ as exactly this, meaning they would be people highly
likely to emphasize with the situation of Orcas in captivity, and strive to improve
animal welfare. An example here is a post Officialmbf on Facebook, comparing how
humans have shown empathy towards the 2020 quarantine with the empathy they
have shown towards animals living in similar conditions for a lot longer.
This shows that my audience would most likely be against Orcas in captivity, and
therefore I wouldn’t have to worry about providing a balanced and unbiased
argument for my video, and instead focus on making it a campaign that reformers
will agree with, as they want to see the change in the ay orcas are treated too.
Due to this ideology of wanting change in something considered unethical by a lot
of people, my product would definitely appeal to reformer personality types. My
documentary will strive to change peoples minds that oppose my ideas and
emphasize the beliefs of reformers, so though it appeals mostly to those who are
already striving for change and open to new ideas, it would also be good for an
audience of perhaps more stubborn personality types, to help change their mind.
Lifestyle
Both the news article ‘How Anxiety Reduces Empathy’ and the paper ‘The Political
Impact of Quality of Life’ suggest that people with a worth lifestyle than others may
be less empathetic, and those who struggle with anxiety or stress could perhaps
also feel less empathy in certain situations. This is due to people with poorer
lifestyles having to focus more on themselves for survival, and some may become
more apathetic during anxious situations to get out of said situation quicker.
This shows that my audience in which are already for my cause and watching the
campaign to help promote it or out of interest will most likely have better lifestyles
than my audience who watches it as they believe the opposite, and either want to
fight my ideas or try keep an open mind. However, from the research it’s proven
unlikely that people from lower classes and who live a poor lifestyle will actually
change their mind on the cause I’m promoting.
Therefore, the way I’ll make my product appeal to my target audience is by
satisfying the audience in which have a better life style, and therefore typically have
a more open mind and more empathetic. These people will be interested in the
welfare and the facts I’m stating about the animals, therefore making it appealing.

5. Primary Audience research
I posted a public survey. The people who seemed most
interested in participating where those in the 13-17 year
age range, with some in the 18-24 year age range. There
was one exception of someone being over 24. This means
that the majority of my participants where in the targeted
age range for my product, and further emphasizes that my
topic appeals to those in the younger generation.
However, it’s quite clear that it definitely appeals more to
the younger side, so I should just my product appropriately
by using language that younger people would understand
rather than high level vocabulary.
Like predicted through secondary research, those most
interested in taking part in my survey and subsequently
the topic, were female. I will use this data to influence my
product, using methods such as a softer color scheme and
a female voice to appeal more to the female gender.
However, I will try to avoid stereotypes like making
everything pink, and using an unnecessary amount of
‘feminine aspects’ like flowers, cute things, etc. However,
there was also some interest by 2 males and one non
binary person. I noticed in terms of results that the men
seemed less passionate about the topic, and the older non
binary person seemed more pessimistic in the answers.

6. Primary Audience research
First, I asked if the respondent considered themselves an
empathetic person to look into empathy levels and how
that relates to their outlook on animal welfare. Almost
100% of respondents said they considered themselves
empathetic, whereas one said they didn’t. Interestingly,
this contrasted the data from my secondary research as
this person was female. This is very important in
influencing my product because it confirms the ideology of
using data, but not relying on stereotypes and always
accounting for the outliers of every group.
To get a gage on how many people had complete relevancy
to this topic, I asked the respondents whether they had
actually experienced seeing Orcas in person at an aquarium.
To my surprise, almost a third of all respondents had,
proving this topic to be a lot more personal to my audience
then I first realize. This also helped me pinpoint a location
for those that said yes, as at least some of them must
live/had lived close to a place where Orcas are captive. This
made me realize I should include more features in my
product about how those close to the actual Orcas can help,
such as through protests.

7. Primary Audience research
I then asked my respondents what their opinion on
documentaries about Orcas was. I did this because even
though they have an interest in the topic, some people
may find documentaries boring as it’s quite a popular
stereotype. However, the results proved overall very
positive. The majorly said they had watched one and found
it interesting rather than boring, and the rest said that
they hadn’t, but would if given the chance. This looks very
promising for my product and reaffirms that it would be
well received by my target audience.
To get an overall idea, I asked my audience whether or not
they were against Orca’s in captivity. Due to my age range
and gender the result was expected. Only 2 people said
they weren’t, whereas the vast majority said they were.
This helps me when deciding how biased to make my
product. I want to make a campaign against them in
captivity, but it’s important to include both sides of the
argument. However, these results show it would appeal to
my audience more if it was balanced, and focused majorly
on why Orcas shouldn’t be in captivity.

8. Primary Audience research
Everyone that said no to being against orcas in captivity
answered that after watching a documentary like mine,
they are at least likely to change their mind. This is very
helpful in terms of research as it confirms there is actually
a point to making my product, and reaffirms the ideology
that a younger generation like surveyed here are more
susceptible to change than older generations, and are
likely to have an open mind towards my documentary.
Finally, I asked if my respondents felt that campaigning
would actually do anything, whether they supported the
cause or not. It seems like the vast majority who voted
that they do believe in change were the younger
respondents, and female. This could play into the idea of
female empathy and that links towards optimism. The fact
that they were younger also plays into the idea that
younger people tend to be more optimistic that they can
change things for the better rather than the older
generations who have a more pessimistic closed mind.

9. Bibliography

10. Bibliography
1. 25 Respondents (2020) Survey conducted on 01/10/20)
2. CrashCourse (2017) The Impacts of Social Class: Crash Course Sociology #25 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a21mndoORE
3. James Sykes (2020) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on 01/10/20)
4. J Soc Psychol. (2007) Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Empathy and Forgiveness -
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1058.9704&rep=rep1&type=pdf
5. Luke Headland (2020) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on 01/20/20)
6. Kira M. Newman (2015) How Anxiety Reduces Empathy -
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_anxiety_reduces_empathy
7. Richard Vaughan (2017) Teenagers Today: Open-Minded, Gender Fluid, Politically Engaged and
Stressed - https://inews.co.uk/news/education/teenagers-today-open-minded-gender-fluid-
politically-engaged-stressed-111874
8. Ryan M. Yonk, Georgia State University (2011) The Political Impact of Quality of Life -
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir
=1&article=1018&context=political_science_diss
9. thecoachingroom (2016) The Reformer Enneagram Type 1 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUwsL2-tmwk&t=22s
10. WPLG Local 10 (2019) ‘Free Lolita’ protests continue at Miami Seaquarium in Virginia Key -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzWkZudm51g