ohmidog!

Subaru plans to eschew the Super Bowl again this year, running its new “Dog Tested, Dog Approved” commercials during the Puppy Bowl instead.

It’s the same approach the car company took last year, aiming its marketing at dog owners, as opposed to football fans. That’s a teaser from one of the new ads above.

According to the manufacturer, Subaru drivers are two times more likely than the average car owner to have a pet.

In addition to showing its ad during Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl IX, Subaru is unveiling a new Facebook application that, among other things, pairs a dog’s breed with the appropriate model of Subaru. Dog owners can enter their dogs breed, weight, and lifestyle and the “Matchmaker” will identify a fitting car model for the dog.

(To see all our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here.)

We’re not too wowed by the car, or by this new commercial for it, but seeing a pit bull in a Cadillac ad — even though his appearance is far too brief — is something to celebrate.

We love that a car company like Cadillac is featuring a pit bull in an ad. We only wish it would have featured more of the dog and less of the good-looking, well-dressed hipster guys.

The ad, dubbed “Night Out,” opens with two guys in stylish duds playing baseball at night when a third friend stops by to pick them up in his Cadillac XTS.

Driving along, they come across what appears to be a farmer, or some other old, salty sort in a cap and flannel shirt, standing in the rain, apparently the victim of car trouble, or pick-up truck trouble.

They give him, and his pit bull, a ride.

Then they all go to a diner to eat, apparently leaving the dog in the Cadillac. Inside, they get the urge to do some dancing. The farmer, waitress, and eventually the whole crowd, join in.

Next we see the Cadillac driver heading home by himself as the sun comes up, passing through some unexplainedly scenic rural countryside on his way from the diner to his high-rise apartment.

He stops the car, and gets out to throw something even though the dog is no longer there to chase it.

We’re not sure what happens to the farmer, dog and fashionable friends, but the Cadillac owner returns home to his ritzy apartment building where the doorman asks, “Another big night on the town?”

The ad — unless we’re missing something — doesn’t seem to have the greatest story line. It’s not real easy to follow, and the diner dancing is a little goofy. But they did get one thing right — the dog.

(To see all our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here)

Here’s the latest ad from Travelers Insurance, which has a long tradition of featuring dogs in its commercials, most often a mixed breed named Chopper.

We loved it when Chopper went to great lengths to find a safe place for his bone. We loved it when Chopper found true love.

In this one, Chopper has a special bone that is the envy of all the neighborhood dogs, and while he seems to be intent on keeping it for himself, and away from the other dogs, he actually has something else in mind.

While Chopper is clearly the star dog in Travelers’ stable, we see much promise in another of the canine actors appearing in this one; namely, the Boston terrier. Check out his smile at the end.

This ad features the song “What I Want This Season” by Orba Squara.

To see all of our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here.

Subaru has done it again.

This heartwarming commercial follows a young man over the years, making the point that, whatever else might change, his two most loyal companions do not — his chocolate Lab and his Subaru.

There’s something about seeing the Lab go from a pup to a grey-muzzled senior that reminds us of the true meaning of loyalty, and might even make some of us tear up.

Of course, a car’s not really capable of loyalty. But we humans are.

So Subaru — doing it well and doing it often — continues in its advertising  to seize upon what’s probably the best symbol for loyalty there is: the dog.

And more often than not, it works.

To see all of our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here.

Wouldn’t you really rather get there in a BMW?

Of course you would, unless “there” happened to be a neutering appointment.

This boxer is eager to hit the road until — thanks to the latest technology — he seems to become aware of the destination, and makes a quick exit.

(To see all our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here.)

The dog ate the car keys? No big deal — at least not in this case, and as far as the car goes.

In this new ad from Volkswagen, entitled “Vet,” a Jetta owner, and bulldog owner, discovers the latter has eaten the keys to the former, but calmly handles the situation.

He grabs the bulldog, puts him in his car and, thanks to a keyless operating system, starts the car up and heads for the veterinarian.

(To see all of our “Woof in Advertising” posts, click here.)

Remember that Super Bowl ad for Skechers athletic shoes — the one that featured Mr. Quiggly, a French bulldog,  racing a group of greyhounds at an Arizona racetrack?

It led to some major backlash, mainly from Grey2K USA, an anti-greyhound racing group that had documented abuses at Tucson Greyhound Park, where the ad was filmed. The organization, and others, tried to get the ad pulled and then called for a boycott of Skechers, saying the ad promoted cruelty.

Given all that, what is one to make of this?

A band called Swedish House Mafia — if band is even the right word – has teamed up with Absolut Vodka to create a commercial that promotes the musical group, and the vodka, and, seemingly, the racing of futuristic greyhound robots.

I don’t begin to understand what’s going on in the ad,  but the band members appear to be taking part in some sort of virtual greyhound racing experience in which they are the dogs, as a crowd of people dressed in Lady Gaga-like attire and wearing too much make-up watch, biting their lips in excitement.

One of the digital greyhounds takes a fall at some point, but gets up and keeps running.

Most people seem to find the ad, and its pounding techno dance club music,  highly cool, but an Arizona greyhound rescuer and blogger has lashed out against it, saying it promotes animal cruelty.  “…Greyhounds are once again perceived as futuristic exploited racing machines,” Karyn Zoldan wrote on her blog, Tucson Tails. “The video is a deadly cross between Project Runway and Mad Max.”

“…This ad is haunting…haunting in the way it promotes greyhound racing as subhuman depravity. Haunting in a way, I feel nauseous and want to vomit.”

GREY2K USA, to its credit, hasn’t taken a position on the Absolut ad, deeming it not worth pouncing upon, given no greyhounds were used in it and those depicted are computer-made images.

Besides, complaining about an ad so oddly ambiguous and unclear in its meaning — if it has any – would be a waste of time, and who has time to waste in today’s fast-paced world?

Absolut Greyhound  is a blend of vodka and grapefruit juice — a bold marketing concept that spares us from the endless toil of having to mix those things ourselves.

If you’re wondering what greyhound racing and vodka have to do with each other, the answer is absolutely nothing. The only connection I can see is that there was — even before Absolut had the foresight to put them in the same bottle — a vodka and grapefruit juice cocktail called a Greyhound, and adding salt to it makes it a Salty Dog.

While we don’t object to cocktails being named after dogs, or to consuming vodka, or to mixing it with grapefruit juice, we”re all for an end to greyhound racing.

While slowly fading away, it continues in seven states.

Racing greyhound robots, though? We have no objections to that. In fact, it can even be looked at as a solution.

If only robots were raced at greyhound tracks, industry employees would learn news skills more befitting modern times. There would be employment opportunities for all the techno-nerds who build and service them. There would be no worries about feeding or humanely maintaining the dogs. There would be no exploitation of animals for human gain — just exploitation of robots, and I kind of like that idea, at least until they turn  on us. There could even be techno dance music pumped in, and vodka-based beverages served.

And, odds are –  when it comes to the real, breathing versions — there’d be a lot more happy greyhounds.

(To see all our Woof in Advertising posts, click here.)

Here’s an ad we doubt would have flown during the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. In fact, it never saw the light of day anywhere (except online), having been banned from appearing during the 2006 Super Bowl.

In the ad, for Bud Light, an upscale dog owner, sweater draped over his shoulders, is showing off his purebred border collie. Then he asks the mutt owner he is talking to, “What can your dog do?”

To see the painful answer, watch the video.

Wonder why you’re not seeing any ads for Pedigree dog food during the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show?

Apparently, mutts like Roscoe (above) — especially homeless ones — aren’t viewed by the club as sending the right message, so they’ve cut their ties to long-time sponsor (as in 24 years) Pedigree dog foods.

Apparently, some of Pedigree’s ads — the ones promoting dog adoption, the ones featuring sad-eyed mixed breeds as opposed to well-coiffed, prancing purebreds – were just too hard-hitting and depressing for the kennel club’s tastes.

“We want people to think of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show as a celebration of the dogs in our lives,” David Frei, the club’s director of communications and the host of the show for over two decades, told the Associated Press.

“Our show is a celebration of dogs. We’re not promoting purebreds at the expense of non-purebreds. We celebrate all dogs. When we’re seeing puppies behind bars, it takes away from that. Not just because it’s sad, but it’s not our message … Show me an ad with a dog with a smile; don’t try to shame me.”

Pedigree’s ads, club honchos agreed, were getting too heavy-handed.

Frei said the kennel club had expressed those concerns to Pedigree: “We told them that, and they ignored us.”

Taking a look at the newest series of ads that are part of Pedigree’s continuing efforts to encourage dog adoptions — you can see them here — I don’t see much sadness. They seem more an expression of pride. They come right out and say don’t feel sorry for me. They seem to say the shelter mutt is just as valuable, and will make just as good a pet (and we’d argue maybe even better) than a purebred.

Maybe that’s the kennel club’s problem. Maybe they want television coverage of Westminster — the big show began yesterday at Madison Square Garden — to keep the focus strictly on purebreds, which are, for it, the money makers.

Granted, some of Pedigree’s earlier adoption-oriented ads were pretty bleak in tone; and everybody (attention ASPCA and Humane Society) is getting tired of those ads that, while cool for the first two viewings, continue to tug so blatantly and repeatedly at our heartstrings we now switch the channels instantly when they come on.

Granted, too, the Westminster Dog Show is free to choose any advertisers it wants, and the American Kennel Club does fund research and offer programs that benefit all dogs, purebred or not. And, to keep things in context,  it’s not necessarily dissing mutts with this particular action; it’s dissing downer, guilt-inducing adoption ads.

But it all comes across a little like snobbery; a little like denial, when it comes to the millions of dogs euthanized each year; a little like let’s stay here in our private fantasy world — not open to the unwashed masses, or those who might be of mixed breeds, even though every purebred, except the wolf, is in fact a result of mixing.

Pedigree has been replaced with Nestlé Purina PetCare, whose ads of peppy, happy dogs are more to the kennel club’s liking. The new partnership was announced last spring.

“They’ve shared with us, when we parted ways, that they felt that our advertising was focused too much on the cause of adoption and that wasn’t really a shared vision,” said Melissa Martellotti, a brand communications manager for Mars Petcare US, which makes the Pedigree brands. The kennel club, she said, is “focused on the purebred mission.”

Martellotti said the partnership had been a boon to Pedigree’s adoption initiatives. In 2007, $500,000 in pledges were received after its ads were broadcast over the show’s two days.

Nearly 3.5 million people watched last year’s show, broadcast on the USA Network and CNBC.

What happened when a locally-aired McDonalds ad noted that eating new Chicken McBites is safer “than petting a stray pit bull?”

This:

McDonalds has since pulled the radio ad and issued an apology.

(For all our Woof in Advertising posts, click here.)