Is "Catvertising" the Real Future of Advertising?

Is "Catvertising" the future of advertising? A Canadian ad company, which is claiming to make ads solely featuring cats, thinks so. They even put together a video promoting their own "Catvertising" division that can be seen below.

Alright, so the video, put out by advertising company John St., is really a spoof, according to Syracuse.com. But it is nonetheless fashioned as a strongly compelling pitch aimed to attract new clients who use video media, by cleverly explaining the benefits of using cats in all their advertising campaigns.

As their story goes, in 2008, John St. produced its first highly successful cat commercial that went viral on the Internet, receiving over 26 million hits. In 2012 John St. plans to be officially opening its doors as the first and only “Catvertising” agency, as an in-house cat production studio. The company claims that by 2015, 90% of all videos will have feline related material, and since they figure that most companies don’t realize how compelling adorable kitties can be to consumers, they suggest advertisers, if they wish to be successful in their product sales, to heed their advice to pay serious attention to this incredible phenomenon. 

The acronym John St. uses is P.U.R.R., describing their advertising goals as “Persuasive", "Un-ignorable", “Relevant” and “Rememorable”. They say that there is never a dull moment, nor do they ever run out of material being surrounded by such charming cats. And while filming a kitty for a commercial is hardly a walk in the park, the effort always produces amazing results. Additionally, since the cost of production is relatively minimal, the investment produces huge returns.

While one side of me highly despises the use of animals in advertising, whenever a clever, creative commercial featuring cats seeming to be having fun shows up on my  television screen, my other side is laughing out loud. While one side of me is enjoying their antics, the other part is shaking its head in serious disapproval.

And while this entertaining video is of course fictitious, it does raise some serious questions. Is featuring cats in commercials just another example of exploitation, or is it possible kitties might become “good will ambassadors” inspiring folks to consider adopting them? An interesting aside shows that people might be split on the issue: while the video (released in November 2011) has already received 8,538 “likes”, it has also received a significant number (777) of "dislikes."

What do you think? Share your thoughts in a comment.