SF SPCA PUPPY MILL SUMMARY

Deceit is a cornerstone of the business model for puppy mills, large commercial dog breeding facilities. They’re masters at masking their operations and are able to turn large profits by appearing to be reputable breeders.

For years, the anti-puppy mill message has hammered home the importance of not buying dogs from pet store because they are dumping grounds for mill dogs. However, most Bay Area pet owners turn to the web to acquire their dog. Sadly, the web provides the perfect medium for puppy mills to present themselves as reputable breeders. This is where puppy mills thrive.

Our challenge wasn’t to tell people that puppy mills are wrong. It wasn’t even to explain why they’re wrong. The challenge was to show people that puppy mill puppies aren’t what they think they are.

We developed a fully integrated, three-phase campaign and crafted each creative element to appear to be something much safer than it truly was.

• We created a fake dog breeder, which at first glance looked like a regular breeder’s website, but then the façade dropped away to expose the harsh reality of where most dogs purchased online actually come from – puppy mills.

• We placed a newspaper bin in the middle of San Francisco, only instead of newspapers; it appeared to be full of puppies. The tight overcrowded quarters of the space represented the shocking conditions that puppy mill dogs live in. Inside, a special newspaper revealed that many dogs purchased online come from similar conditions, or worse.

• We also released a video which started out as a light-hearted sing-a-long style song about buying a puppy; but then viewers quickly realized that the lyrics to the upbeat tune were actually about the horrors of puppy mills.

By making potential pet owners experience deception as we told them about the deceptive tactics of puppy mills, we empowered them to make better choices when acquiring their next dog. Our efforts resulted in a 17% increase in SF Bay Area residents promising not to buy from a puppy mill, a 49% increase in adoptions the following month, and $4.9 million in extra investment in the lives of humanely acquired pets.