A good business chooses its words mindfully. Words are powerful tools that can shape our thoughts, emotions, and even our behaviours. This is precisely why a good business practice is to be mindful of the words your company employs throughout its dealings. The use of positive words and terminology can directly lead to positive business results, and that is why ‘Til The Cows Come Home chooses their words mindfully.
Positive Words Lead to Positive Change
‘Til The Cows Come Home is devoted to working with farmers to rescue farmed animals from an early death. As we work towards achieving this goal, we are conscious of the effect that language has in shaping community perceptions of these living beings. For example, we chose not to refer to a group of farmed cows as ‘cattle’ because of the unfortunate connotations of the word, as its meaning is “large ruminant animals with horns and cloven hoofs, domesticated for meat or milk”. Using a term such as cattle has a negative connotation that diminishes the individuality of every animal within the group, as it suggests that their primary purpose in life is to be bred to provide their body to humans, but they are so much more than this. When their individuality is diminished it is easy for people to not care about them as much, because the individual animals are no longer seen as a mother, a father, a child or a sibling, but rather just as one of a nameless group bred for profit.
‘Til The Cows Come Home firmly believes that the animals we manage are individuals, capable of loving and joyfully contributing to the community, and should be respected as such. It is the same reason that the meat industry will employ euphemisms in order to lessen the impact of consuming once-living creatures, for example by labelling cow body parts as ‘beef’. This works at alleviating negative emotions in the community when it comes to consuming meat products, as the labels have taken away their individuality.
Make A Positive Difference
Remember to think about your word choices mindfully in both your professional and personal life. It has long been demonstrated that a key factor of a successful business is the employment of positive words, which get people thinking about what that business can offer to the community. For example, Nike’s famous ‘Just Do It’ slogan reinforces the idea of taking direct steps to achieve your goal, and ‘Til The Cows Come Home utilises similar strategies with their word choices, to affirm the message that we are doing important, positive work which will have a benefit for the wider community as we take the weight off of farmers and bring the joy of animals into our families.
If you believe that ‘Til The Cows Come Home is doing important, necessary work and would like to help us, please think about donating to this cause, so that we can provide and find forever homes for every individual farmed animal we get the chance to.
