Customers 'barking mad' at Tesco ad

Tesco has caused a major stink with animal lovers after a picture in its festive season catalogue was slammed for featuring a child scrawling a message on a blackboard which reads: “All I want for Christmas is a puppy”.
Proof – if it was ever needed – that you come between the Brits and their dogs at your peril, is found on the supermarket’s Facebook page, which has been bombarded with complaints from hundreds of appalled shoppers. Meanwhile its customer service workers have reportedly been besieged by complaints from dog lovers.
The Dogs Trust – which first coined the slogan ‘A Dog is for Life, Not Just for Christmas’ 35 years ago – has also waded in. A spokesman said: “Dogs Trust is incredibly disappointed to see the latest Tesco Magazine which shows a background image of a blackboard with the words ‘All I want for Christmas is a puppy’.
“The charity’s iconic slogan is 35 years old this Christmas but is sadly still as relevant today.
“We know many children would put a pup on their Xmas list so we spend a considerable amount of time, money and effort reminding parents about the commitment and responsibility owning a dog entails.”
Even the RSPCA has stepped in. It said: “We would remind any parents wanting to get any animal as a present that pets are a lifelong commitment and would need a responsible adult to care for him or her.
“Careful consideration would be needed to ensure the animal would be loved for life and not just a short-term novelty.”
Meanwhile the Kennel Club has written an open letter to group marketing director Matt Atkinson which includes the sentence: “We urge Tesco to remove the advert, which we believe will escalate a worrying trend for people to buying puppies as Christmas presents.”
A spokeswoman from Tesco apologised for the magazine and said it was not supposed to encourage people to buy pets from Christmas. She said: “We’re sorry that some people have taken offence at a picture in our magazine. It was not our intention to encourage people to buy dogs for Christmas.”
UPDATE: The Advertising Standards Authority has confirmed it has received 50 complaints about the picture within 24 hours. The watchdog said it will be making a decision within the next week as to whether it will conduct a formal investigation.

Customers ‘barking mad’ at Tesco ad

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