Marketing Animals - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

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T o be clear, a dog rescue centre did not make the advert, it was made by an advertising agency called Thinkbox who use Harvey as an example to demonstrate how powerful TV advertising can be. In the advert a young couple visit a dog rescue centre. They look at each dog in turn 112 FAD OF THE YEAR At the end of 2010 one of the UK’s commercial television channels, ITV, selected twenty of the most popular TV adverts from the year and entered them in to their own competition to find the television ‘Ad of the Year’. The winning advert was one featuring a rescue dog called Harvey who is in kennels, hoping somebody will come along and adopt him. Text by Natalie Gilbert Thinkbox Harvey, 2010 Thinkbox through the bars of their kennels, clearly looking make a choice about which of them they will adopt as their pet and take home. They reach Harvey’s kennel and the dog turns on a TV behind him to show them his own advert: in the advert he cooks, cleans, mows the lawn, washes the windows, collects the children from school,
Thinkbox Harvey, 2010 Thinkbox entertains them and tucks them in at night; he is also seen using the human loo. In essence, Harvey is the ‘perfect dog’ in the eyes of most domesticated households. His advert impresses the couple and he packs his bag ready to leave the kennels. The advert is of course meant to be light hearted and humorous, but its very existence tells a much deeper story about our relationship with dogs and the outcome of their domestication – the advert could not be a success if there were not a strong foundation to this story that engaged a TV viewing audience. Thinkbox has naturally chosen an animal and a situation to maximise impact and Harvey did just this: “Thinkbox’s TV ad has seen Thinkbox.tv traffic increase by over 400%, Harvey’s Facebook page attract over 7,000 fans... It has also attracted over a million online views following 260 million broadcast TV views” (thinkbox.tv: 2010) and won the ‘Ad of the Year’ competition. It’s doubtful that a cockroach called Harvey could generate such an enormous surge of interest and likeability, or the tagline for the ad: ‘Every Home Needs a Harvey’. Harvey is the very idea of domesticated bliss between Man and Dog where the essence of domestication is to operate as part of a team. This “cooperative behavior” (Budiansky, 1992: 54) is merely a reflection of what happens in the wild: “In mixed-species flocks, such as the herds of giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest that are always grazing on African savannas in picture postcards and wildlife documentaries, the members of the group gain an added advantage because the especially acute senses of one species can make up for the deficiencies of another... Pooling 113 Thinkbox Harvey, 2010 Thinkbox their resources gives them a greater chance of detecting an approaching lion than any one would have on its own,” (ibid.). Harvey is forming a contract with his new owners in a domesticated setting where there is washing to be done, clothes to be ironed and children to be fed. He knows that new owners will feed him and offer him shelter so, in return and to convince them to take him, he advertises his ability to help around the house. However, in reality, humans are not keeping their part of the bargain. It is a sad fact that in the UK in 2009 the RSPCA found new homes for 90,493 abandoned or rescued animals (rspca.org.uk, 2011) and “investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints” (ibid.). Battersea Dogs & Cats Home looks after 10,600 cats and dogs every year (battersea.org.uk, 2011), whilst The Dogs Trust is looking after a further 16,000 dogs (dogstrust.org.uk, 2011). The advert may be imaginative and effective, but it only forms a contract between Thinkbox and its clients. Harvey is a mere tool for entertainment and to generate sales. His situation, however, is very real. Natalie Gilbert has worked professionally in online, marketing and editorial in diverse capacities for sixteen years across many different industries, but has always found her feet firmly in language, creation and progress. She takes every opportunity to explore the realms of artistic, literary and visual possibility. With volunteer experience at animal care centres around the world, a degree in Wildlife Photography and a postgraduate in Anthrozoology, she has followed a keen interest in the human-animal bond and artistic portrayals of animal beings in modern society, on and offline @Animal Theory
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Antennae Issue 23 - Winter 2012 ISS
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EDITORIAL ANTENNAE ISSUE 23 T his i
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83 Jumbo: A Capitalist Creation Sto
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actually ethical, juridical and pol
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A merican popular culture has quiet
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animals represent to the audience?
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Fig. 1. including sources such as t
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This lack of human/penguin interact
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gorillas were associated directly w
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References Anderson, John R. (1990)
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Regione Lombardia L’Agricoltura C
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Concern about the impact of livesto
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Ed Edwards and Dave Masterman The G
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translates into context for the bov
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T here seems to be some confusion r
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P revious academic research looking
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Leo Burnett France 500 Black Jack,
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DDB Berlin The Golf GTI Edition 30,
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David&Goliath Fast and Fuel Efficie
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progress and humanitarianism. It wa
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