Watch taste testers tucking into dog food

A dog food manufacturer ran a taste testing social experiment to prove the quality of its meat. It served up dishes featuring dog meat, and got people to describe the food. The results were fairly surprising.

The manufacturers, Freshpet, mixed the meat with more recognisable kitchen ingredients, and turned it into spaghetti and meatballs, chicken tacos and hamburgers. The tasters were asked to describe the pet food, and only when they had tried it did they reveal the 'secret ingredient'.

It came as something of a shock to all of them - but some were enjoying it so much they decided to continue. One even asked for a doggie bag.
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The company included the disclaimer that although it was safe to eat, it wasn't recommended.

'Social experiment'

The film claims to be a 'social experiment', but some would argue that it's more of a publicity stunt. We have seen a number of these over the years, and they can be hugely successful for the brands involved.

Last year Always launched its 'like a girl' campaign. It encouraged people to do physical things including running and throwing 'like a girl', at which point most of them did a parody of doing something badly. Then they were asked to talk about the impact of using 'like a girl' as an insult and how it affects girls going through puberty. Finally the women and girls were asked to do the action again, at which point they put their backs into it. The advert has been watched almost 59 million times.

In 2013 Dove took a similar approach with a Real Beauty sketches stunt, which asked women to describe themselves while an artist (who couldn't see them) sketched what he thought they looked like. Then he sketched them as they were described by a stranger. Then each woman compared the portraits and realised how they were underestimating themselves. The video was viewed almost 6 million times.

It was such a success that they did it again in April this year. This time they filmed women arriving at a doorway, where one door was labeled 'beautiful' and one 'average'. People chose a door, and the majority of them chose average. They then got people to discuss why they chose that door, and many of them revealed they regretted their choice. That video has been watched almost 7 million times.

But what do you think? Do you like this sort of approach? Or do you prefer adverts to be adverts and scientific experiments to be more than just getting a few people to do something on camera to manipulate your emotions? Let us know in the comments.

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