Wags to Riches

Advertising's animal kingdom

Animals like RCA's famous Nipper, an English fox terrier first seen in 1900 listening to His Master's Voice, have long been a favorite advertising come-on. But now a Noah's Ark of furry little friends is barking, growling and clucking to promote products. In the process, the animals are earning stunning salaries. The Ford Motor Co. has just spent $40,000 for the services of two lynxes, one for close-ups and one for jumps, in three commercials for its new Mercury Lynx cars. Grizzly bears regularly command $1,000 a day, and nimble chimpanzees $2,500. Even dogs can turn their wags into riches at a daily rate of $300 to $1,000.

Ad animals have now become a big business. Advertisers issue casting calls to rental agencies like New York City's All-Tame Animals or directly to trainers who maintain their own menageries. Ford leased its leaping lynx from Lloyd Beebe, the owner of Olympic Game Farms in Sequim, Wash. Beebe's 300 or so actors in residence, including elephants, rhinos and wolves, earned $2 million last year from commercials, movies and television shows. His business is growing at about 15% annually.

Advertising executives say that animals often project images that mere humans cannot duplicate: the toughness of Dodge's fighting rams, the reassuring watchfulness of the Hartford Insurance Group's stag or the power of the Schlitz malt liquor bull. Schlitz has spent $30,000 for bulls that storm through the walls of bars to prove their machismo. The theme of the new Mercury campaign is the automaker's battle with foreign competition. In each commercial, the lynx, lured by an unseen pan of beefsteak, leaps atop a huge globe and symbolizes a sleek survivor that will conquer the world. Says Manny Perez, who produced the commercials: "The animal pushes the right emotional buttons in the viewers' minds."

Animals, however, can sometimes be more temperamental than the sexiest starlet. With no fear of being dropped from the cast, furry or feathery actors often fail to perform. The directors of a Minute Maid commercial went through three roosters and 4,000 ft. of film trying to get one second's worth of crowing. Some animals are doggoned prima donnas. Ruth, a shaggy dog star for the Dawn rental agency in New York City, is famous for pushing away her bowl in pet food ads. She makes about $25,000 a year and insists on being the closest to the camera any time she works with other canines. She whines and frets when forced to be with the regular pack of dogs. Morris the cat, who meows for 9-Lives cat food, is too finicky to fly in the baggage hold with other animals. He is always booked in first class.

With animals now so popular on Madison Avenue, the inevitable has happened: they are organizing. California Trainer Ralph Heifer has formed the Animal Guild of America. The union's initial demand is that animals receive residuals, the fees that human actors earn each time their commercials appear on the air. At present they receive only one-time flat fees. If animals are not accorded equal rights, Heifer warns, a beastly nationwide strike may be in the offing.

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