Ah, the dog food wars.
Dog food is big business!According to the Pet Food Institute, here in the US we spent 11.3 BILLION dollars on dog food in 2013, and another 2.6 billion dollars on dog treats. Cat food is also big business; Americans spent 6.4 billion dollars on cat food and another half-billion on cat treats.
image from Blue website
So, needless to say, with all that money at stake, there are plenty of new players wanting to get in the game, and the competition can be cut-throat.
Take, for instance, the current battle between Blue Buffalo and …… well, everybody. Have you seen the Blue ads?
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Blue’s sales last year were $1 billion. They’re growing fast, thanks to their ad campaign.
Well, seems some other dog food manufacturers are NOT happy!
Purina is suing Blue for false advertising. Hills filed a complaint with the National Advertising Division, and NAD ruled against Blue.
Image from Purina website
And Hills Nutrition has been mounting a media campaign through bloggers to get the word out about Blue’s misleading practices. Just this week I received a “starter kit,” complete with sample blog post and links to other news stories about how Hills is committed to truth in advertising.
image from Hills website
Personally I find it ironic that an advertising industry that’s committed to brainwashing us into buying things is so concerned about “truth” in advertising. But that’s a conversation for another day.
So, what are your thoughts about all this? Do you think Blue should apologize for lying to us? Or do you think Purina and Hills are upset because someone is beating them at their own game?
Weigh in below and tell us what you think.
Filed under: pets, Product Reviews Tagged: advertising, animals, business, dog food, Dogs, pet food, pets
