Over the weekend, Los Angeles hikers got their Spandex in a bunch when confronted with this idyllic scene found in one of the city's most dog-friendly parks, Runyon Canyon. The yellow cut-out Chihuahuas are ads for PETCO--the furry brainchildren of agency The Phelps Group, I'm betting--and are situated in the canyon's famously off-leash trails.
Naturalists are naturally pissed about the wild pack of paper pups: Whoever installed it had to leave the trail and walk up the slowly-eroding hillside, a huge no-no in this park. More importantly, are their owners going to come and, ahem, pick up after them? Are these little lost golden doodles just a cleverly disruptive ploy akin to BluDot's recent campaign to abandon 25 chairs on the streets of New York?
Personally, I think they should have gone for a breed that didn't look so much like another Runyon Canyon resident who's probably far more welcome on this hill: The coyote.
UPDATE: The Phelps Group says it wasn't them (they haven't worked for PETCO in four years). Who's responsible for these pups? Posterscope USA and Carat.
Related Stories: | Topics:Design, wild dogs, guerrilla advertising, PETCO, Los Angeles, , Los Angeles, PETCO Animal Supplies Inc., Phelps Group, Runyon Canyon Park, Posterscope Ltd. |
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Recent Comments | 1 Total
November 10, 2009 at 8:36pm by T M
Chances are that if the pups had been left there with no other markings other than the color yellow folks would have chalked it up to installation art. My suspicion is that folks here got pissed that they were being slapped with advertising while doing something that, in addition to exercise, provided a respite from the near constant stream of invitations to buy this product or that service. I'd be pissed too if I were these folks. When I am walking local paths and trails the last thing I want to see is advertising. Art, by contrast, is nearly always welcome. PETCO screwed up by splashing their name on these pups. Shoulda left them yellow and eventually folks would have put the two together without being ambushed.