People react to the photos and movies because they have a connection to them. PETA has some pretty horrifying movies about farm animal conditions, but in general there is not a lot of sustained, widespread action because of that.
On the other hand all of them are against seeing dolphin or whale cruelty even if only a handful of them ever saw any of cetacean (me included).
I know that this is all anecdotal evidence but it the most that I can produce.
My reaction was just like "Yeah, because killing whales on a game makes me want to buy a ship and start whaling myself."
[0] https://www.polygon.com/2013/3/6/4070836/peta-objects-whalin...