KC lock horns with PETA and loses
The Kennel Club must be thinking they're Billy-no-mates at the moment. When I saw the advert for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) at Crufts time I thought, "Typical PETA, that's designed to shock and offend! It'll be taken down as quickly as it went up!"
It was an arresting image and it was only placed on one or two bus shelters around Birmingham, most probably just so the media world could comment or ring Crufts for a comment and there'd be a tremendous fuss. Prime PETA tactics, low ad spend - high visibility.
Click here for some Birmingham Mail coverage that includes a photo of the advert in situ.
It showed a Maltese with a little black comb under its nose to give it a moustache and the caption, "Master Race? Wrong for People. Wrong for Dogs. Boycott Breeders. Adopt."
Of course it got picked up enough before the show for the KC to see it and report it to the Advertising Standards Authority.
So now PETA have a second wave of publicity as the BBC and other media outlets report the surprising news that the Kennel Club LOST its complaint!
Here's the BBC story. Click here.
The ASA said it had carefully assessed three complaints "but did not consider there were grounds for a formal investigation".
An ASA spokesman said: "We acknowledged that the image and text were emotive but did not consider the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence or to mislead.
"Consumers were likely to understand that the advertisers were expressing their opinion."
Meanwhile, PETA's Poorva Joshipura said it was not the advert that was offensive "but the false and dangerous belief that some breeds or races are superior to others".
The Kennel Club said it had complained "on behalf of all of the responsible pedigree breeders - and indeed pedigree dog owners - who love and care for their dogs and who know that they lead very healthy and happy lives".
It said it believed that "to these people the advert is highly offensive and very misleading".
One of PETA's earlier posters showing a photo of the killer of Baby P was banned by the ASA.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) poster featured an image of Steven Barker and said animal abusers were also violent to people.
The poster appeared on a billboard in Haringey, north London, where 17-month-old Peter lived and died in 2007.
The watchdog ruled that Barker's picture was used in a "shocking way merely to attract attention".
The text below the image of Barker read: "Steven Barker: Animal Abuser, Baby Abuser, Rapist. People who are violent towards animals rarely stop there."
It was an arresting image and it was only placed on one or two bus shelters around Birmingham, most probably just so the media world could comment or ring Crufts for a comment and there'd be a tremendous fuss. Prime PETA tactics, low ad spend - high visibility.
Click here for some Birmingham Mail coverage that includes a photo of the advert in situ.
It showed a Maltese with a little black comb under its nose to give it a moustache and the caption, "Master Race? Wrong for People. Wrong for Dogs. Boycott Breeders. Adopt."
Of course it got picked up enough before the show for the KC to see it and report it to the Advertising Standards Authority.
So now PETA have a second wave of publicity as the BBC and other media outlets report the surprising news that the Kennel Club LOST its complaint!
Here's the BBC story. Click here.
The ASA said it had carefully assessed three complaints "but did not consider there were grounds for a formal investigation".
An ASA spokesman said: "We acknowledged that the image and text were emotive but did not consider the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence or to mislead.
"Consumers were likely to understand that the advertisers were expressing their opinion."
Meanwhile, PETA's Poorva Joshipura said it was not the advert that was offensive "but the false and dangerous belief that some breeds or races are superior to others".
The Kennel Club said it had complained "on behalf of all of the responsible pedigree breeders - and indeed pedigree dog owners - who love and care for their dogs and who know that they lead very healthy and happy lives".
It said it believed that "to these people the advert is highly offensive and very misleading".
One of PETA's earlier posters showing a photo of the killer of Baby P was banned by the ASA.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) poster featured an image of Steven Barker and said animal abusers were also violent to people.
The poster appeared on a billboard in Haringey, north London, where 17-month-old Peter lived and died in 2007.
The watchdog ruled that Barker's picture was used in a "shocking way merely to attract attention".
The text below the image of Barker read: "Steven Barker: Animal Abuser, Baby Abuser, Rapist. People who are violent towards animals rarely stop there."
Comments