 |
| A still from the wildly popular and adorable new Budweiser Clydesdale Superbowl ad. |
The ad, is usually the case, has little if anything to do with selling beer, other than giving us warm fuzzy feeling that we vaguely associate with Budweiser, thereby, in theory, making us want to buy the stuff.
I'm not sure if that theory works, but one thing's for sure: If the makers of this year's Clydesdale Superbowl ad wanted to tug at our heartstrings, they succeeded superbly.
After something like one day, the ad already got 2.5 million hits on YouTube within the first six hours of its release. The ad has been a staple on news and talk shows (Free advertising for Budweiser! Yippee!!!)
But as I said, they hit all the right buttons with this ad. I was among the zillions of people moved by it.
The video of this ad is at the bottom of this post but to summarize: Some extremely cute puppies are up for adoption at the Warm Springs Farm. One of the puppies -- that little scamp-- keeps escaping from its kennel and trotting down to the Clydesdale barn, where it has become close buddies with one of the horses.
Finally, the cute little puppy that is such close friends with the Clydesdale is adopted, and the new owners start driving away with him, much to the distress of our little puppy, who is being taken away from his best friends.
But the Clydesdale, and his posse of fellow Clydesdales, stop the car, surround it, and the motorist has no choice but to surrender the puppy, which happily goes back to the barn with the horses. The people involved succumb to the inevitable and the puppy and the horse live happily ever after together.
That the ad is cute is only a small part of the reason why it is so compelling, as most dog owners understand. Many of us can relate to that Clydesdale and the puppy, who want to remain each others' besties.
 |
| My bestie Jackson, ready for me to play Frisbee with him. |
I hadn't had a dog in decades until the summer of 2010, when my husband Jeff came home with Jackson, a black cocker spaniel puppy.
I CANNOT believe how attached I have become to Jackson. I can't live without the little routines he forces me into.
At certain times of day, I have to chase him around the house with his toys, or give him a backrub as he sits on my lap as I watch TV, and I feed him at the exact hour he wants it.
I'm reading too much into it, but I just get such a kick out of the love and trust I see in Jackson's eyes and his furiously wagging tail when we're together.
Scientists are beginning to be able to do MRIs on dog brains and they're starting to show what I and many people who have canine companions know: Dogs love us.
Scientist Gregory Berns, who's doing a lot of these studies, says dogs have friendships akin to human ones and they are capable of empathy and understanding.
When Jackson's not home, I miss him. Last night, Jeff and I boarded Jackson in a kennel because we had plans that would mean he'd be home alone for too long.
When Jeff's gone away on business for a few days, I feel kind of lost. I felt a somewhat smaller pang of that loneliness and drift when Jackson was away late last night and this morning.
And I was relieved when my bestie came home today. So was Jackson. And we both like the new puppy/Clydesdale ad
Here it is:
No comments:
Post a Comment