Pet food

Dog is man's best friend. Apparently so is cat, rabbit, lizard, hermit crab, and ferret. Americans care intensely about their pets, and we treat them almost like humans, especially dogs. Some of us treat our dogs better than we treat some humans. We bathe our animals, we brush them, we cut their fingernails. Many of the things we do are to make them look and smell better, but we also go out of our way to make them happy. My mom lets my dogs eat these hideous pig ear chew toy things. They smell, they get mushy and disintegrate onto our floors, and they're pig ears whose consumption goes against all of our instincts as animal lovers. Yet, the pig ears make my dogs ecstatic. They bark with joy, mostly they yap as they're the size of soccer balls, they wag their tails furiously, and I can sometimes detect the hint of a real live doggy smile on their smushed pug faces. It makes me laugh to see them so happy when my mom pulls out the bag of toys. I will always remember their reaction, and their health and wellness is really important to me and my family. When my dogs get sick they're taken to the vet faster than I'm taken to the doctor when ill. The fact that we can't ever really understand them or know what they're thinking or feeling makes us even more convinced that we must do everything to make sure they're doing well.

We've struggled with making food choices for them. We want the best in food for them, and since one is extremely fat and the other very athletic, we've tried all sorts of discrete foods. There was dry food shaped like dog paws and dried food shaped like bones, because apparently one likes paw shaped food and the other bone shaped food. There was organic wet food with lamb, pork, steak, turkey, chicken, all prepared in different ways. A lot of times my mom follows my vet's recommendation for food based on what crazy doggy diet she has my dogs on, but I'm sure a lot of people buy dog food for their normal dogs and have to make the monthly decision of what brand to buy. Pet food commercials tend to be the cutest ones out there, but animals in general are cute, so different brands must find ways to distinguish themselves from the others.

What's funny is that I can only think of one type of dog food brand, Iams. I can't recall any others, although as soon as I do a google search I'm sure I'll recognize a few. Even though I know the Iams brand, when I'm in the stores I recognize dog foods a lot of times by the dog on the cover. Some brands seem to have stuck with a similar animal or animal breed, and when I recognize the dog from a commercial on a bag of food I immediately recall all the frolicking

with the owner in the park, the wagging tail at meal time, and the general good feelings.

Above are two images of Iams chunks proactive health. Proactive seems to have become a buzz word in food. There are probiotic yogurts out their for humans. I have no idea what the difference between proactive dog food and other dog food is, but the dog is adorable. The two bags are slightly different, as the product is available in different types, but it's the same dog. This same dog appears in a commercial (shown below).

This dog TALKS about how Iams is great for him. If this dog likes Iams wouldn't my dog? I mean it SAYS it likes Iams, and it's voice sounds like what I would imagine that kind of dog would sound like. The next time I'm in the store and see the dog on the Iams package, I will have completely forgotten the health information displayed at the end of the commercial, and if I remember I wull have nothing to compare the ingredients to. I'll mostly recall the talking dog though and his dominance in the commercial. The dog, not the owner, wants Iams dog food. Iams seems to be using images to attract buyers. The images aren't of the dog food, but of the thing that matters much more than the food, the dog itself. It's there, it's cute, it's healthy, and it has a personality so we trust it to make the right decisions for itself and other dogs.

Below are a few Purina dog commercial from the 70s. The first one focuses more on the cleanliness of the food for the owner. It emphasizes it's no-mess dry pieces, and only at the end mentions the flavors a dog might like. However, the second commercial features more talking dogs, raving about the dog food. What's funny though is that to me the talking dogs seem "unrealistic" because of their voices. Iams has perfected the voice to the point where it seems like that of a dog, but carries the authority of a human as it isn't completely ridiculous. By far more ridiculous is that fact that the Iams dog seems to be more trustworthy now to me, because dogs most certainly can not talk, but it's interesting how the dog voices and behaviors have changed. The Iams modern dog seems organic. It seems free to be a dog, to be the healthiest dog it can be, whereas these dogs from the 70s seem less free and dog like. They seem like humans wearing dog suits, trying to sell dog food. I wonder what people in the 70s thought about these talking dogs and Purina Dog food.

The above commercial would not only be considered freaky, since the teacher is letting her student dog sit for her, but the dog has so little personality. It really doesn't develop the dog's personality as much as it does the dog food's reputation of being clean. Also, the use of characters from Leave it to Beaver, a very family-focused All-American show, renders Purina family friendly. Forty years ago the portrayal of companies as family-focused seemed important in advertising just as it is today. I wonder if family focused commercials are more important today, now that families are often broken apart by jobs and the global nature of our society. Were 70s housewives buying dog food interested in knowing that the company was family based, since family was very important and times were changing. Were people scared in the seventies of the break up of the family and an increased focus on independence in kids of much younger ages? Could they see the shift, and were they trying to hold onto surrounding themselves with things that seemed not only interested in the family but important to the well-being and happiness of the family? The commercial below pegs Purina as global and cosmopolitan. Were people in the seventies looking for family oriented products or ones that were cool and hip? Was change welcomed and were people starting to surround themselves with things that linked them to the big wide world? I suppose now there are commercials on both ends of the spectrum. Some products, such as cereal, tend to focus on family values and parent-child relationships whereas perfume companies almost always try to make themselves seem modern and global, a link between good smelling hipsters across the world.

The above commercial makes Purina seem modern. It's like some kind of news program devoted directly to Purina. Also, the dog speaking in a foreign language, spanish I believe, depicts Purina as being cosmopolitan. Another funny little aspect is that it's called dog chow rather than dog food. I'm sure this is just because of the time, but dog chow makes dog food seem more like food for a dog rather than for some equal being to humans, whereas dog food puts dogs on the same level, in that they're eating the same thing, food, just special for dogs. Also, the phrase dog chow seems so old fashioned, so stunningly and wonderfully traditional and simple. Of course, the words don't have much different meaning, but I wonder if the shift represents a shift in the way humans treat their dogs or what they want for their dogs. Were dogs considered less important when dog chow was fed to them? What's funny too is that Purina has multiple dog food types, but they have one called "Dog Chow brand Dog Food." It seems they're trying to maintain the image of being an old, wise company, wholesome and devoted to the well-being of many generations of dogs, while being modern. Purina harkens back to the good old days, but how did the good old days of the seventies feel about Purina then?

Purina Dog Chow The more modern Purina "One"

old fashioned, traditional (above) Still simple and pure, but newer and fancier. (below)