PETA urges Vodafone to stop using pugs in commercials

Even before Vodafone India entered the local market, Hutchinson Essar released an ad that captured the imagination of every Indian. In 2003, Hutchinson Essar launched an immensely successful ad campaign 'You & I' featuring a young boy and a pug whose real name was Cheeka. So well received was the ad that the company - then Hutch and now Vodafone - continued to roll out one ad after another, all featuring pugs. Fifteen years after the ad created by Mahesh V and Rajeev Rao was released, director Prakash Varma's latest ad for Vodafone featuring 30 pugs was released in January this year.

Adorable as the ad is - like it has always been - it has not gone down very well with animal rights organisation, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The organisation has shot off a mail to Vodafone asking the company to stop using 'genetically compromised' pugs in its ad campaigns. PETA has also asked the telco to stop using animals in its advertisements.

PETA India CEO Manilal Valliyate said, "No animal should be subjected to the chaos, loud noises, bright lights, and countless retakes on a commercial set just to sell a product, but in this case, Vodafone's ads have encouraged people in India to purchase pugs, contributing to their suffering," as mentioned in Economic Times. 

Vodafone and before that Hutch's ads have popularised the breed, which shot up the demand for pugs in Indian households.

Sunil Sood, Chief Executive of PETA told Vodafone India that these dogs have become popular in the country due to their commercials and are purchased by people who are usually unaware that they are severely compromised genetically by being bred for their unnatural traits like flat nose, bulging eyes and folds of skin.

While these features might make the breed look adorable, PETA said that since the demand is up due to these commercials, breeders and pet stores force mother dogs to produce litter after litter till their bodies give way.

Moreover, India's warm climate is not suitable to the breed that is susceptible to heatstroke and "to collapsing and dying in high temperatures".

The newspaper mentioned that Vodafone India declined to comment on the matter.