Super Bowl Commercial Causes Veterinarian Rant – Truth about Pet Food
For those that might not know, a human grade pet food (Farmer’s Dog) had a television commercial during the Super Bowl. The commercial has caused quite a stir.
Opinion: the commercial was good, nothing exceptional to me except perhaps that this was the first time a human grade pet food had a Super Bowl commercial. For me personally, I’d always prefer seeing a human grade pet food commercial that promotes actual food than a feed grade pet food commercial pretending to use food ingredients. But, I did think the commercial crossed a line a bit with the “forever” tag line – it felt to me they were trying to attach the brand to Dr. Karen Becker and Rodney Habib’s world-wide best selling book The Forever Dog (of which the brand has no affiliation).
The commercial caused competitor human grade pet food JustFoodforDogs to issue a press release announcing they spend their money on research instead of advertising. “They bring the marketing, we bring the science,” said President Carey Tischler of his competitors ad spend for the Big Game, approximated to cost upward of $5.5M. “By spreading the word that feed-grade, mass-produced kibble is bad for our pets, and that a diet of fresh food can be transformative in their lives, we are all collectively arriving at our goal of giving a better life to our pets.”
And the pet food commercial caused a veterinarian to go off on a rant on Facebook (so crazy we initially thought it was a joke).
Veterinarian Dr. Andrea Weinrick stated in a Facebook post she yelled at her TV because the “commercial was advertising non-kibble (raw/fresh cooked) dog food.” After telling readers about her veterinarian degree, she states “Non-kibble food can be dangerous.” Her concern is foodborne illness (pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella). She was angry that the Farmer’s Dog television commercial did not warn viewers to “the potential dangers of non-kibble food consumption nor do they address the potential health risks for the humans preparing this food.” “…this commercial was advertising non-kibble (raw/fresh cooked) dog food. And I hate these types of dog food.”
Wow.
Who would have thought a television commercial would cause an educated person to write such uneducated things.
The facts are:
From FDA Enforcement Reports database, since 2012:
- 158,476 pounds of cooked pet foods (non-kibble) have been recalled for pathogenic bacteria
- 1,979,678 pounds of raw pet foods (non-kibble) have been recalled for pathogenic bacteria
- 177,598,883 pounds of kibble pet foods have been recalled for pathogenic bacteria.
And by the way Dr. Weinrick, even though 8000% more kibble pet foods (pounds) have been recalled for “potential health risks” than raw and cooked pet foods combined – we have never seen a kibble television commercial warn pet owners about the dangers of pathogenic bacteria.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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