By Bella Bonifazi
Animals in Advertising
From Tony the Tiger to the Duolingo owl, animals are used time and time again to draw people into a brand or product. Whether you’re a dog or cat person, animals are lovable, memorable, and fun. Over half of the U.S. has at least one pet at home and that is why advertisements love to use animals in them. They appeal to people’s emotional side and help to create a connection on a more personable level with a brand’s target audience. This allows for more engagement and more customer loyalty. It helps a brand stick out by putting a recognizable and lovable face to their name.
Ad Club and The Humane Society of West Michigan
Ad Club’s love for animals goes beyond Charmin’ Bears and the Energizer Bunny. This is why the Ad Club EBoard went and volunteered at The Humane Society of West Michigan. This humane society was founded in 1883 by a group of citizens who shared a concern about abused, neglected and homeless animals. Originally, these animals were housed in various vet clinics and homes until they were able to build the first in 1944. Now this shelter sits on 21,500 square feet of land and was able to house 1,848 dogs, cats, and small animals (1,714 of which were adopted) in the year 2023-2024.
On Friday, September 26th, eight of our EBoard members joined The Humane Society of West Michigan and their animals to offer our help and give donations. We were able to donate $80 dollars and 15 items to these animals. Our time there was spent learning about the behind the scenes of running a shelter, cleaning various rooms and areas, helping to sort and move boxes of food for the animals, cleaning up the walking paths behind the shelter, and getting to spend some one on one time with some of their many lovable animals waiting to be adopted.
Because things get real, real fast. 