for friday: puppies

New York Times advertising reporter columnist Stuart Elliott received several emotional e-mails about this year's annual Pedigree adoption ad campaign and discussed them in his Mar. 17 e-mail newsletter.

Judging by the reaction to the ads on YouTube, advertising folks aren't the only people with strong feelings for adorable dogs. Among the YouTube comments:

Poor puppies!! How on earth could anyone ever be so cruel and uncaring toward such sweet animals? My dogs aren't dogs, they're members of my family. And now I have to go cry into their fur and tell them how much I love them, excuse me. :::sniffle:::

About the ads, Elliott says, "All of the 12 dogs depicted in the campaign, which is the fourth annual adoption drive sponsored by Pedigree, have found homes."

• Microsite: dogsrule.com
  
• See all of the Pedigree Adoption Commercials
  
• Agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York
• Voice: David Duchovny
• Music: New Math (original for the campaign)

UPDATE 4/8/08: My question about the music made it into Stuart Elliott's column yesterday.

Q: (Reader)

I was wondering if you happen to know the name of the (downbeat) song and the artist for the Pedigree ads that you have mentioned in the e-mail newsletter. I know I’ve heard the music before — I think I own it — but I can’t pinpoint it.

A: (Stuart Elliott)

There have been a lot of comments from readers about the Pedigree commercials, which feature homeless dogs to promote animal adoption, but this is the first question about the music.

According to Jeremy Miller, a spokesman for the Pedigree agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, “the music used in the Pedigree commercials over the last four years has been almost entirely composed by a company called New Math, based in Pasadena, Calif.”

“The current music in the Pedigree adoption drive commercials is original compositions,” he adds.

TBWA/Chiat/Day is part of the TBWA Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group and Pedigree is sold by a division of Mars.

Compared to the YouTube commenter (and the average Denverite), I'm not quite as bat-shit nuts over precious pooches. So I appreciate my apartment manager's futile attempt to get dog owners to follow the most basic rule of urban etiquette: leash the beast. In bold, italics and all caps, residents are exhorted:

It may be hard to believe, but not everyone loves your pet as much as you do! Please respect others and makes sure to keep your pet on a leash at all times.

While I'm talking dogs, I always figured that the whole fetch thing had something to do with a dog's desire to please people. Swissmiss turned me onto this video that makes me wonder: How long would a dog would play with this if no people were around?