Advertising is big business in pet food. The question is, are pet food commercials misleading when the whole story is explained?
Commercial #1…
This Science Diet commercial is using a veterinarian to pitch its message; Dr. Christine McCully DVM. The commercial states Science Diet pet foods are “guaranteed to have 100% of what pets need” and “0% of what pets don’t” need. The commercial states Science Diet pet foods are “100% precisely balanced”.
First, let’s look at the statement made in the commercial ‘guaranteed to have 100% of what pets need and 0% of what pets don’t need. Here are the ingredients of one Science Diet pet food…
Adult Advanced Fitness Lamb Meal & Rice Recipe
Lamb Meal, Brewers Rice, Brown Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Wheat, Whole Grain Sorghum, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Cracked Pearled Barley, Chicken Liver Flavor, Flaxseed, Lactic Acid, Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, L-Lysine, Choline Chloride, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Tryptophan, Mixed Tocopherols added to retain freshness, Citric Acid added to retain freshness, L-Threonine, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.
Do pets need – are they guaranteed to need brewers rice? A leftover fragment of grain? Do pets need – are they guaranteed to need corn gluten meal sourced from genetically modified corn that is prone to deadly mold? And do pets need – are they guaranteed to need animal fat, an ingredient FDA determined to be likely to contain a euthanized animal?
Perhaps the Science Diet guarantee applies to the “100% precisely balanced” statement made in the commercial. Problem. There is NO “precise” in pet food nutrition. None. Pet foods are required to meet a minimum amount of protein and fat, but there is NO maximum established, there is NO precise established. Many nutrients required in pet foods have the same minimum standard with no maximum or precise established.
Question: Is this pet food commercial misleading to the unknowing pet food consumer?
Commercial #2…
This commercial seems to gives viewers (pet food consumers) that ‘natural’ feeling, showing a beautiful Golden Retriever out in the field, farm life including the red barn, and states “natural formulas”. The Nutro commercial states “chicken” is the first ingredient in their ‘natural formulas’ and states the chicken has been farm raised. The commercial shows chickens wandering around out in the sun in a big field.
So, I asked Nutro if this ‘farm raised’ statement could mean factory farming (poultry raised indoors in crowded conditions, never seeing light of day – nothing similar to what is portrayed in this pet food commercial). A phone call to Nutro customer service told me ‘farm raised chicken’ is a poultry certification of FDA and USDA that requires the chickens have access to sunlight each day. However, a search of the USDA and FDA website found no legal definition of “farm raised chicken”. To the contrary of what I was told by the Nutro customer service representative, USDA defines “free range” or “free roaming” as poultry that has access to the outside – NOT “farm raised”. The National Chicken Council states “Farm-Raised” chicken as “All chickens are raised on farms. So any chicken could be labeled “farm-raised.”
Question: Is this pet food commercial misleading pet food consumers?
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
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Ann
April 22, 2013 at 12:00 pm
The Nestle Purina Beneful commercials are among the most misleading. While they say absolutely nothing about the content of the food, they show Nutro similar happy dog/owner scenes designed to evoke an emotional response in the viewer who is then to run out and buy this wonderful feel good food for their pets.
Since they say nothing at all, they can’t be caught as misleading, but they clearly are to the informed viewer.
Nancy Weaver
April 22, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Never would I feed Hill’s diet food to any of my dogs. In fact , My dogs, none of them, will even touch it. I think they know better what is good for them.
John Hufnagel
April 22, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Susan…Thanks once again for showing how “honest” TV commercials can be. I know many Veterinarians who push Hill’s Science Diet because they sell it and make more money. After all it is greed that is always the bottom line. I did find a few Vets that were more concerned with our pets than with money. Not one recommends that, or any other, commercial diet.
I think that should be the criteria of choosing a vet…find out what products are they trying to sell you on the side before trusting our companions to their care.
krystle
April 22, 2013 at 12:53 pm
How about the one that says “it’s great if your pet food is all natural but is it balanced?” I can’t remember what company that is but it pisses me off. Oh and the Purina commercial with the dramatic music and the dog bounding through nature. Give me a break. The Hill’s one is awful, “I’m a vet and i feed my dog Science Diet.” Ok so youre a crock vet who is in it for money not health, I’m glad they list the vet’s name so I know to never, Ever go to them! 🙂
Beth
April 22, 2013 at 4:44 pm
AMEN! Krystle
sebs
April 22, 2013 at 5:38 pm
I’ve posted this before & i’ll say it again~all these pet food companies falsely advertise. Like the black & grey friskies cat who’s also an iams cat who’s also on science diet cans etc etc. I refuse to buy any pet food that’s advertised, either on tv or in magazines. These companies spend sooo much $$ on false advertising that they have no $$ left for quality, healthy ingredients. I bet my paycheque that none of the pets featured in these commercials eat the garbage food that they’re in the commercials for.
Allison
April 22, 2013 at 9:16 pm
How about that Whiskas commercial? With the “highest level of protein” …when compared to what? A leather shoe?! I’m pretty sure my meaty bones have a higher level of protein than any commercial food out there. At least their stupid marketing gimmicks won’t trick the people that actually research pet food…just the lazy, busy consumers that buy what looks pretty.
Ellie
April 22, 2013 at 9:22 pm
Yes, they are misleading. I was ignorant and misled for several years. I fed my dog Science Diet for dogs over 7 thinking I as doing a good thing for him as he was getting older. I still remember how he kept failing for no apparent reason. I remember all the vet bills also.
After he passed i was not going to get another dog but after not having one for a while I found I just could not live happily without a dog in my life. I decided I was going to do everything possible to keep this new pup healthy. Right away I noticed she would not eat kibble. I tried many different kinds only to get the snub. I was told to just let her starve and she would eat when she was hungry enough. That just seemed wrong to me. Why would a dog turn down dog food? Then I started reading more about pet foods. I started reading ingredient lists and finding out what these strange sounding things on the lists really were. One day after educating myself about pet food I stopped and read the list of ingredients on the Science Diet food I had fed my previous pet. I nearly got weak in the knees! Corn was the first ingredient! Things did not get better further down the list! I was sick to think I had been feeding my dog poor quality cow feed!
It is sad to say that most Americans are very trusting of those cute pet food commercials that show the adorable pets and nice families taking care of them.Of course a name like “Science Diet” and all the vets that sand behind it really seals the deal doesn’t it? They spend more money making their ads than they do on the actual ingredients of the food.
The collusion between the pet food industry and the veterinarians of this country is one of the most disgraceful situations I have seen.
Laurie Raymond
April 22, 2013 at 10:06 pm
I sell “pet food” — and my 3 anchor brands are Orijen/Acana, Natura and Nature’s Logic, because I felt I could stand behind them. The fire that destroyed half of Champion’s (Orijen & Acana) facility almost destroyed my business because the company never leveled with distributors and retailers about when they would be back in full production and able to fill orders. 7 months later, I can get about 2/3 of every order. Now Natura with its 3rd phase recall has emptied my shelves, and it will probably be 5 weeks before I get any refunds for products I already paid for. I see these salmonella recalls as the way of the future of kibble — especially the good stuff with real meat as the basis of the foods. I never have carried any dry foods that contain corn, wheat or soy, but I worry about the arsenic in rice, and I know it doesn’t belong in a carnivore’s diet anyway. I have come to realize that the pet food industry is as cynical and dishonest as many others — like the pharmaceutical industry and the human processed food industry — almost up to the tobacco industry. I have been working for 9 years to convert everyone who will listen to a wholesome raw diet, and I carry many excellent products. I’ve just developed a local source for pasture raised meats and poultry that will provide the right proportions of muscle meat, organ meat and fat. I can sell the calcium supplements and guide people to using veggies, eggs, etc. I am seriously considering clearing out all the kibble. People who want kibble can get it many places. I can’t survive as a small store with the salmonella specter looming and the aflatoxin danger rising ensuring more recalls, more worry about my customers’ pets, and more empty shelves and lost revenues. But most important, I still want to be able to stand 100% behind the quality of what I sell.
Ellie
April 23, 2013 at 3:30 am
You would be doing pet’s and their owners a service if you started selling raw. I drive over 30 miles to buy a very good brand of raw dog food for my dog. Before I found that brand I made her food myself but it is always difficult to find all natural grass fed meats in my area. When will consumers wake up and start demanding real food for themselves and their pets?
Peter
April 22, 2013 at 10:09 pm
“Brewers Rice” is just a made-up term from AAFCO, intending to portray it as something more wholesome or interesting than it is: broken chips of rice that have no other use financially, and which are part of “least cost mix” protocols for pet food manufacture. Brewers rice is not used for anything other than animal feed and pet food. It surely amounts to “false advertising.”
CC
April 24, 2013 at 9:00 am
Carnivore. That’s the magic word. That’s what dogs & cats are.
C-A-R-N-I-V-O-R-E-S.
They have the teeth, biological makeups & physiologies to prove it.
LOL @ consumer fraud lawyers who don’t take advantage of this fact. Must be too easy for them.
Nico
May 18, 2013 at 12:05 am
Actually, Dogs are facultative carnivores, where cats are your obligate carnivores.
CC
April 24, 2013 at 9:09 am
John Hufnagel wrote:
“…..I think that should be the criteria of choosing a vet…find out what products are they trying to sell you on the side before trusting our companions to their care.”
Boy did you hit the nail on the head, Sir!! All excellent points.
I know of Diabetic cats kept on – “prescribed” – high carb cereal; Blocking cats “prescribed” cereal where you can see, right on the label, how much higher *salt* is listed than on regular non “prescription” foods… to get creatures with natural LOW thirst drives to sap up more water!
But that’s what we get when there’s barely (if) any regulation–
http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html
Pingback: Latest information from “Truth About Pet Foods” on recalls and other info | Healthy Pet Network Blog
CM
April 29, 2013 at 12:41 pm
My vet too suggested a “prescription food” as a treatment for my recently diagnosed hyperthyroid cat. I opted instead to do radioiodine, which is the curative treatment of choice. The thought of feeding that and only that food for the rest of her life sickened me. Really??????
sebs
April 30, 2013 at 12:40 pm
Just saw a new blue buffalo commercial; the iams/whiskas/science diet cat is in that too!
suzzan
May 4, 2013 at 5:52 pm
These commercials are so misleading in so many ways. Purchasing and consuming any food that has come from a factory farm is wrong; whether is is being consumed by humans or our pets. I wonder if any one has considered not buying any dog food that has been tested on dogs/animals in research labs? If you go on Peta or some other reputable animal rights website, you would be sickened by what innocent animals go through in these research facilities. These innocent animals live out their years, so lonely, only to die a very slow agonizing, painful death. This too, is a misrepresentation by the animal food companies. There are several responsible dog food companies that do not test on animals. Only we,
as consumers, we have the power to change the behaviour of these large companies; and that is through our wallets.
Ellie
May 5, 2013 at 7:58 pm
These pet food companies are actually multimillion dollar corporations that are run by their bottom line. They have stock holders that want to make money. That is all they are concerned about. Put out a product in the cheapest possible manner in order to increase the stockholder’s profit. There is no concern for our pets.
The ads are put together by Madison Ave experts that also have no other motivation other than profit. That is the world that the public has entrusted their pets to. While there are many people who care very little about their animals, I’m sure there are many that care as much about the health of their beloved pets as they do their own.
The deception that the people in this country live under is huge at every level. We are handled by the government and it’s co-conspirator the media.