Dog's life: Call for ban on 'extreme body' canines in ads

An international welfare group is demanding a worldwide end to ads which use dogs with extreme body shapes, including French Bulldogs, Pugs, English Bulldog and Dachshunds, amid claims that their use in advertising is triggering a rise of public demand for such breeds.

The International Collaborative on Extreme Conformations in Dogs (ICEC Dogs) has released new guidance for advertisers, heavily informed by research from the Royal Veterinary College, that advises on which images of dogs should be avoided in advertising and social media based on the dog’s extreme body shape.

The ICEC Dogs is a multinational group formed to address the escalating global welfare issues and suffering caused by extreme conformations (body shapes) in dogs.

It defines extreme conformation as a physical appearance that has been so significantly altered through selection by humankind that affected dogs commonly suffer from poor health and welfare, with negative impacts on their quality of life.

The group is now calling on advertisers and users of social media worldwide to immediately stop using images of dogs with extreme conformation in public communications unless these images are aimed at protecting canine health and wellbeing. Instead, ICEC Dogs recommends that advertisers focus on using images that promote physically healthy conformations in dogs.

Although it does not name and shame which brands it is concerned about, Churchill Insurance’s ads have been fronted by English bulldog “Churchie” since 1994, although a photorealistic CGI character has been used since 2019.

Meanwhile, Vitality’s ads have featured Stanley the Dachshund, the since 2015.

The guidance outlines the basic physical attributes and abilities that any dog must have to ensure their capacity to enjoy a full life without limitation from health issues linked to extreme conformations.

Common examples of health and welfare issues linked to extreme conformation include chronic pain (e.g., eye ulcers because of protruding eyes) or physical incapacity (e.g., unable to sleep or exercise fully due to breathing difficulties from being flat-faced).

The group says that over the past decade, more and more owners are choosing to acquire dogs with extreme conformations, such as excessive skin folds, short tails, short legs and flat faces.

RVC VetCompass research has estimated that there were more than half a million French Bulldogs and a quarter of a million Miniature Dachshunds owned in the UK in 2023, along with more than 180,000 Pugs and 130,000 English Bulldogs.

Much of this increased public demand is believed to result from the commonplace use of images of dogs with extreme conformations as promotional aids in advertising and social media, which has normalised these harmful body shapes in the public’s perception.

This new ICEC Dogs guidance is designed to inform advertisers and social media users about the potential welfare costs caused by the inappropriate use of images of dogs with extreme body shapes and aims instead to encourage public sharing only of images of physically healthy dogs.

ICEC Dogs is advising advertisers to err on the side of welfare caution and avoid the use of any images of dogs where there is uncertainty about whether the dogs have an extreme conformation. ICEC Dogs is also advising members of the public who identify advertisements contravening the guidance to report it to the relevant advertising standards agency in their country and also to contact the advertisers directly.

Dr Dan O’Neill, Chair of the UK Brachycephalic Working Group, Associate Professor for Companion Animal Epidemiology at the RVC and co-founding ICEC Dogs member, said: “Millions of dogs continue to suffer worldwide every year from extreme and unnecessary body shapes.

“This new ICEC Dogs message calls on advertisers to play their part in ending the normalisation of suffering from extreme body shapes and will hopefully contribute to the ongoing worldwide movement to instead celebrate healthy body shapes in dogs.”