Are animal charity ads/appeals counterproductive?

Some of the footage shown in these appeals is very distressing, so much so in some cases that I can't watch them. I end up turning over or off.
Is this not defeating the purpose of educating and informing viewers and, hopefully, raising some money? The donkeys were on a short while ago and resulted in a switch off. I think the graphic nature of some of the film can cause many of us to tune out.