They say that in show business, you should never work with children or animals.
UnderCurrent suspects that the fine folks at Harvey Norman might have ignored this memo, choosing instead to focus on the flow-on affects of adorable animals to promote itself. UnderCurrent has it on good authority that in the advertising world, this little technique is called an Emotional Correlation.
Do you sell toilet paper? Surround it with Labrador puppies to ignore the bodily function connotations! Are you trying to sell paint? Why not put a big shaggy dog next to the paint tin so people forget just how annoying it is to redo the exterior gables with all-purpose weather-wear.
Are you trying to promote a photo printing business? Ask punters to vote for “Australia’s Most Loveable Pet”!
The results are in. Selected from 30,000 entries, the winner is a dog that has a cute little name and an even cuter (read “saccharine”) tag line for its photo.
Perhaps Frankfurt the dog could be rolled out across all of Harvey Norman’s advertising to help promote its range of split-system ducted air conditioners or to reassert that its furniture is not sourced from old-growth forests.
You know what they say, cuteness sells.
Frankfurt, officially voted Australia's most loveable pet by Harvey Norman. Unofficially voted as a weird-looking critter with big ears.