Skewered: Came on the dog

Wow. Dog food producer Beneful has launched a TV commercial for dogs (http://bit.ly/o7meGL). The spot doesn't exactly sparkle with ingenuity, but it does come up with a few unexpected gadgets: Because while the dog owner gets the messages "great food," "healthy," "makes your dog happy" and "buy me" conveyed in pictures and text, Waldi, dozing in front of the screen, hears the squeak of a dog toy as well as several high-frequency sounds that his master can't perceive. Waldi senses: I must have this food. Dog food commercials aren't the most exciting thing on TV, and the carrots trickling out of the package aren't exactly the favorite food of every yapper, but still: every loving dog dad and every doting dog mom's heart warms when their dizzy best friend suddenly wakes up from his doze and starts staring spellbound at the screen or wagging his tail.

Freely according to the motto "cats would buy Whiskas". Only this time it's dogs. An American dog owner has documented how his Labrador reacts to the Beneful commercial that was also broadcast in the U.S. (http://bit.ly/ qsUfKH): The four-legged friend wakes up from his nap and looks into the camera with a trusting and somewhat dopey expression. That's it. No resounding buying impulse, but a reaction. Not every commercial gets this much attention, especially not in the animal world. And if Waldi likes it, his master is sure to buy. That's how dog lovers are.

No risk, no fun

Such a double-coded spot carries risks and chances. Everyone who has or had a dog knows this: Our Münsterländer Heidewachtel reacted very sensitively to noises. The dog ignored the high-frequency dog whistle with unshakable elegance, but the dog stood toe to toe when I let a shrill "Üüüüüüüü" sound into the garden with pursed lips. Ammunition and New Year's Eve fireworks didn't even make our hunting dog bat an eyelash, but he was afraid of squeaky toys. The word "Teita" drove the animal into an uncoordinated frenzy of joy, because it stood for a long walk, while Mr. Heidewachtel reacted very sensitively to the rattling of the spiked collar. After a certain period of getting to know each other, we were able to calculate the effect of these sounds and use them in a targeted manner. But how do you establish the message of high-frequency squealing in a commercial?

Surely there are four-legged friends who start to tear up the sofa set or urinate on the indoor palm tree when they consume the Beneful commercial. Georg Sanders, nutrition expert at Beneful parent company Nestlé Purina PetCare, confirms that such a risk does exist: "The reaction of dogs to the sounds of the TV commercial depends, among other things, on the play behavior of dog and owner and the individual experiences of the four-legged friend." Well, there you have it. Presumably, owners can be happy if their Wuffi only acknowledges the commercial with a spontaneous waking phase, yelp or tail wag. We can look forward to the first lawsuit for damages from the USA.

Awakens the best in men

But now to the chances of the two-channel spot: Tweak the concept of dual coding a bit, and it should be possible to show a man a spot about diamonds and superficially make him feel that the ad doesn't affect him at all. But the next time he walks by a jewelry store, he suddenly feels an uncontrollable urge to go in and buy some utensils for his sweetheart. The same should be possible for shoe, clothing and flower advertising. Washing and cleaning product commercials would also be an interesting area of application. Imagine your husband getting up during a commercial break between two parts of "Terminator" and starting to clean the toilet like a remote-controlled robot. Wow! Then I would even buy the cleaning agent that goes with it.