Wednesday, October 20, 2010

What's wrong with this picture?



I was going to post this with a no comment heading originally, except I think it's important to point out that every ad campaign has been marketed to death. Here the folks at Purina have invested some serious time and $$$ into this campaign and have thoroughly researched the demographic they hope to reach with this ad. In other words, it ain't just a stereotype.

Remember, REAL DOGS, like the demographically targeted wiggle butt in the picture, EAT MEAT, and not just lick you to death. And our friends at Purina have the research to back it up.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

:(

Sad face for empathy.... awwwww.
What do you mean my wiggle butt is a carnivore?

Well dogs are omnivorous but you get the jest. ;)

Which reminds me.
Donna from BR is just.... augh.... wrote a new entry about her "logic" I feel as though I'm making stupid and obvious points but I guess not seeing how this flies over everyone's heads all the time.

FormerAKCmember said...

"Chop House" good one...

"Real dogs eat meat" ...

But Jesse James was left out. I hear he's still stalking Bullock. It's unknown how many pit bulls he keeps at West Coast Choppers now...

shar pei mix said...

Oh, I get the jest. Believe me, I get the jest...it works on so many different levels even. ;)

And no, you're not making stupid & obvious points. You make very valid & succinct points with a certain flair that most of us could never aspire to. You just have to remember what you're up against. Part high dollar scam, part mental illness. Throw in some cult-like mentality centering around animals that are capable of doing way more than just licking you to death and you have an all out recipe for disaster. Unfortunately innocent people and animals are paying the price for this.

Keep up the good work, though, because it does make a difference.

Friends Administrator said...

I hope the pit nutters do feed their dogs this low rent food. I will never feed my dogs Alpo, it's a cheap food. I think more of my dogs than to feed cheap food to them. I've never used Purina anyway, not a very good food in any form. Note how it is a filet mignon "flavor", not the real shit. The food I feed my dogs is actually hunks of chicken that you can see, looks good enough for a person to eat. Maybe their dogs will get sick from eating it or at least have a short life from it.

Anonymous said...

Its called market research....pit bull owners are typically lower class, uneducated, white trash/ghetto trash, who buy cheap dog food at the local grocery store or places like K-Mart/Walmart. Don't think for a minute its accidental that a pit bull appears on a craptatstic brand of dog food like Alpo. Lots of money is spent analyzing demographics for targeted advertising...and that's the market Alpo is going after.

Anonymous said...

And do Boston Terriers eat this stuff? Because you know " Pit bulls are a mixed breed that includes American Staffordshire bull terriers, Boston terriers and boxers, she said".

Why don't they just throw in Maltese to really try to fuck up the issue?

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_705437.html

Anonymous said...

Sooo, what kind of meat is in Alpo? Is any of it "real" meat, or just the "flavor" of the meat it's supposed to be?

I've seen this ad before, they've also got a St. Bernard on one of them. I haven't seen any small dogs on these ads, so I guess to the people at Purina/Alpo, "real" dogs are huge lumbering oafs, and all of them are named Al.

Anonymous said...

I think this campaign is a response to a campaign by the humane society to turn your dog into a vegetarian, right?

Anonymous said...

It does leave a "vicious dog" taste in the mouth!

The funny thing is that I think the people at Purina think (know?) that pit bull people are so stupid that they would feed Alpo, one of the WORST foods available on the market, nothing but cheap fillers and byproducts with a little mention of garbage-grade meat, to kill their dogs.

Anonymous said...

"Donna from BR is just.... augh.... wrote a new entry about her "logic""

Her "logic" has everything thing to do with how much money she can shake down.

It's a greed bucks operation.

Anonymous said...

WTF???? Is this woman in the article serious?? Claiming that Pitt Bulls are a mix of Am Staff Boston Terrier and Boxer? What a fucking idiot!

Anonymous said...

"campaign by the humane society to turn your dog into a vegetarian, right'

I doubt it. There are many brands of vegetarian and even vegan foods on the market for dogs and have been for some time.

Many allergy-prone dogs do better on a vegetarian diet, or on a mix.

I think the Alpo ad is just appealing to a certain, dimwitted audience.

Anonymous said...

This has nothing to do with the ad, but I'll throw in my two cents here because the issue of dog food quality has always been a thing of mine

If it has byproducts, meal, corn, lots of grain filler, it isn't good. It will ruin a dog's kidneys.

Meat should be the top ingredient, fish is fine too. The issue is quality of protein.

(Byproducts are the worst you can get. This is worse than garbage. I won't go into where it comes from)

And yes, many dogs do better on one of the vegetarian diets. Some dogs have problems with meat sources of protein.

Eggs are the best source (as in most complete) of protein for dogs.

And I know several people who have actually fed a vegan diet to their dogs and all the dogs did great and lived very long life spans. I don't choose to myself, but I've seen that work.

ALPO SUCKS.

Friends Administrator said...

I opened a new brand, new to me, today and it looked good enough for me to eat. Hunks of shredded chicken, I almost bit into one. Plus I did find a bone but it crumbled, not splintered, just a small one. If you put it on a plate, no one would know it was dog food. I can understand seniors eating this stuff now. Expensive yes, but better than feeding mystery meat like Alpo.

I avoid dry food with grains in it. I had one dog with a corn allergy. And one dog had an allergy to salmon, Natural Balance sent him to the vet. Even if it wasn't a main ingredient, NB puts salmon oil in otherwise.

Anonymous said...

My comment here was going to be on making your concerns on advertising known to the company. Frequently they use this type of feedback as a free focus group and they do make changes. I complained to the company who makes Milkbones after I opened the coupon section of my Sunday newspaper and found a Milkbone ad with an open mouthed pit bull running toward the camera. I explained to the company that this is exactly what I see when I close my eyes, this is a horrid flashback moment. Next time I saw that ad, the dog was a border collie.

Having said that, I went to the Alpo website and looked at the material for this product. There is a "book" that is supposed to have been written by the pit bull "Al". Please take a few moments to see this for yourself. The dogs are all portrayed as untrained and ill mannered. Alpo has indeed, defined the demographic for this product... and it's not us.