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Personal Narrative: My Love For Animals In Advertising

Decent Essays

I have a confession. I am an absolute sucker for animals in advertising. I love Cadbury eggs, not for their quality chocolate, but because they sell it to me with a ridiculously adorable bunny. My toilet paper of choice? Cottonelle, because a Labrador retriever puppy beckons to me. I’m like Elmyra from Tiny Toon Adventures. Present me with a critter and I want to pet it, and love it, and squeeze it, and never let it go! And more importantly for the advertiser, you’ll have my absolute undivided attention and eagerness to engage in your product. And I’m not alone. In their 2012 Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook, the American Veterinary Medical Association found that there were 70 million pet dogs and 74.1 million pet cats in the U.S. alone. That’s over 30 percent of household in the U.S. even before you take into account other pet species such as fish, hamsters, lizards, and birds. It’s this love for our pets that make them natural spokespersons. …show more content…

The company credits the rascally golden retriever, introduced in 1996, for the spike in popularity of their brand. At first it seemed like a silly idea to include the talking dog, but he quickly became a household name. 20 years later Duke continues to star in Bush’s commercials and has become an iconic part of American pop culture. Or consider the “Dear Kitten” ads from Friskies. The internet is obsessed with cat videos. OBSESSED. Recognizing this Friskies created the original “Dear Kitten” spot which appeared as an ad before videos on YouTube. The spot became so popular that an entire series has followed, each more delightful than the last. The winning technique for the ads is in allowing the viewer to become engrossed in the “Dear Kitten” narrative, only spotlighting the product at the end of the

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