by Elisa Black-Taylor
(USA)
Super Bowl Doritos Dead Cat Bribe
One thing that may be considered more famous than the Super Bowl in the U.S. is the Super Bowl commercials. For many, the commercials are more important than the game itself and boast the best commercials you'll see on TV all year. People look forward to these commercials and they make for a lot of water cooler talk the week following the big game
This year the Doritos commercial featuring a dog burying a cat has drawn a lot of negative attention. The official title of this commercial is "Super Bowl Doritos Dead Cat Bribe" or "Man's Best Friend."
Here's the commercial.
Word has it, this commercial only cost $20 to make. Yet it has created a stir as many outraged cat lovers protest the message the "Man's Best Friend" commercial appears to portray. Basically, a human (and husband of the cat's owner) is bribed by a dog to keep the death and burial of their cat a secret.
This commercial implies the dog killed the cat and buried the cat to hide the evidence. The cat owner's husband is bribed by a bag (or two) of Doritos to keep the cat murder private.
To make matters worse, at the end of the commercial, the wife asks the husband if he's seen the cat and he says "nope" after he sees the dog outside his door holding up another bag of Doritos.
Many see the "Man's Best Friend" Doritos commercial as harmless fun. The dog is in control of the situation throughout the commercial.
Others see the commercial as everything from cruel to downright abusive. The commercial says the life of this cat was worth less than a bag of Doritos. It also sets a bad example as the husband doesn't appear to consider telling his wife their cat is dead.
There are even some viewers (consumers) who are threatening to boycott Frito-Lay, owner of the Doritos brand, because of the commercial. Frito-Lay is in the convenience food division of PepsiCo, owners of Pepsi.
So what do the readers at pictures-of-cats.org think of this Super Bowl Doritos Dead Cat Bribe commercial? Is this all done in fun or is it just on more way cats are shown as less worthy in this country?
I don't find any commercial that implies a cat was murdered as entertaining. I will say this. If I were the wife asking my husband if he'd seen my missing cat, he'd better tell me the truth in the matter.
Every year there's always one Super Bowl commercial that really gets under our skin as being just wrong in the message it sends. In my opinion,"Man's Best Friend" for Doritos is that commercial for this year.
Elisa
Note: The photos used in this article are stills from the YouTube video by FunnySBCommercials. The first shot is of the dog making sure the cat tags are buried. The second shows the neighborhood poster of the missing cat.
