Saturday, November 20, 2010

Advert 'glamorises dog neglect'

John Lewis, the retailer, is to continue showing its TV Christmas advert despite complaints it "glamorises" dog neglect. The advert shows a boy hanging up a stocking on an outdoor kennel but then leaving his dog in the wind and snow.



John Lewis said it had cut the scene from a shorter edit of the advert but not the longer version. It said a 60-second version with the dog scene still in would continue to run until the end of this weekend and then on "a few other occasions" up until 18 December.

A spokesman added: "There are two new 30-second versions of the commercial which air from tonight and these do not contain the dog scene." The firm said the breed of dog used - a deerhound - was used to being outdoors and had not been harmed during the making of the advert. It apologised for any distress it had caused, however.



Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today, said she was "horrified" by the advert, while 1,400 people have joined a Facebook campaign against it. Ms Cuddy said: "We are horrified by this. It glamorises neglect. We have already had people tell us they can't visit their father for Christmas because he thinks it is alright to leave the dog outside in the shed, because it's alright for John Lewis."

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