The sounds of silence: ‘Pivoting’ as a rhetorical strategy of the animal farming industry to maintain the institution of meat

This study examines the rhetorical strategies employed in animal agriculture communication to maintain the legitimacy of meat as an institution amidst gwowing ethical concerns about animal welfare and the animal-as-food logic. By analysing the public discourses of the Spanish animal agriculture interbranch organisations, we propose a rhetorical strategy that we call pivoting, which consists of three rhetorical moves: silencing, amplifying, and hollowing. Silencing diverts the audience’s attention from the ethical implications of animal exploitation. In contrast, the credibility and authority of farmers are rhetorically amplified by portraying them as benevolent stewards of cultural values, territories, and societal well-being. Hollowing, in turn, frames animal welfare as merely a good business practice, obscuring the debates about the moral considerations that underpin welfarism and other ethical perspectives on non-human animals. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of discourses in shaping the evolving values underpinning animal agriculture, revealing how the lobbying voice of the animal agriculture industry association can stifle divergent moral perspectives about animals within the sector. Additionally, they expand theoretical typologies of institutional work by providing evidence of the rhetorical strategies used to maintain the normative foundations of a societal institution. Furthermore, this study highlights the need to promote a critical understanding of meat production and its ethical implications, challenging the entrenched anthropocentric speciesism within the food system.