Throughout the year, America loves to honor people with a day dedicated to them. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are the most well-known, but there are also holidays for essential workers and teachers. But our favorite day highlights something else entirely: National Pet Day. Colleen Paige created the event to bring awareness to the benefits of pets, and to shine light on animals waiting for adoption.
Since Swarm doesn’t have an agency animal, we decided to celebrate today by showing off four of our favorite pets from ad campaigns. Some of them gained international fame and others just flat out captured our hearts for being so cute.
Heinz: Wiener Parade
This Super Bowl spot from 2016 was so adorable that even Cruella de Vil would’ve cracked a smile. Adding dogs to a commercial is a surefire way to get attention, and Heinz knew exactly what the people wanted. With dozens of dachshunds sprinting down hill in hotdog outfits, they were trying to show how mustard and ketchup belong on hotdogs. But it’s also an accurate representation of how we wish every dachshund greeted us.
Gidget
Taco Bell’s Chihuahua was arguably the greatest to ever do it. We apologize to Gen Z’ers who didn’t get to live through this era. Debuting in 1997, Gidget took the world by storm and definitely paved the way for other animals when he declared that he wanted Taco Bell with the now infamous phrase, “Yo Quiero Taco Bell.”
The KIA Hamsters
From 2009 to 2019, KIA rode giant hamsters to advertising stardom. There were hip-hop hamsters, tux wearing hamsters, and even hamsters that had a dance off against sci-fi robots. We fell so hard for these balls of fur that Adweek declared one of their spots, “One of the 20 most viewed commercials of all-time.” And while a human-sized rodent might not qualify as a pet, they make our list because everyone wishes the hamster they had growing up would have rapped more instead of doing nothing.
Budweiser Dogs
Clydesdale horses might be the iconic face of the brand, but when they introduced us to Spuds MacKenzie in the 80’s they knew they hit gold. Budweiser stole our hearts again with “Puppy Love” in the 2014 Super Bowl when a fluffy Golden Retriever and a Clydesdale became best friends. It was so popular that they made a sequel for the big game in 2015. Guess what? It was just as adorable.
Honorable Mention
GEICO Camel: For years it seemed as if no Wednesday could pass without someone cheerfully yelling, “Mike! Mike! Mike! Guess what day it is?!”
Coca-Cola Polar Bears: Pick any year and you’re likely to find at least one great spot by Coke using polar bears. They didn’t make the official list because no one should have them as a pet.
