Stupid Quiznos commercial shows dead budgie!!

[Kfamr]

Er.. Quiznos is still yummy though, besides taco bell, it's my favorite.

[Nomilynn]

I also got the same response. I'm going to write back again, and say that I don't appreciate the form email as I took the time to write one that was heartfelt in the first place.

I have never liked Quizno's. I really dilike the taste, and the toasted bread cuts up the corners of my mouth! Owie!

[Sudilar]

Got the same response. Grrrr

[Nomilynn]

I wrote back:

Dear Mr. Brunson,

I feel compelled to respond. I am quite offended that I have received a "canned" response to the email that I took the time to write out. I know that this message is a mass response to the many people who wrote in about this commercial, and it does nothing to help the problem.

I am well aware that your company would not use a "real" animal in your ad, because it is against the law. I will at least give you the benefit of that doubt. However, using that image at all is still distasteful. It is not humorous. How funny would it have been if you shown an emaciated child in a crib? Would that be funny? Would it be funny to show a crying baby in a diaper full of excrement because "Jimmy" was too busy with a sandwich? I would hope that your humanity would kick in and stop you from using such tasteless images. Showing a dead bird is no different. I do not have human children, but my pets are just as much a part of my family as any person would be, and animals rely on their families to care for them. Your scenarios are not "equally exaggerated" because one scene takes a living, breathing life and mocks and exploits it for marketing purposes. So what if the bird is stuffed - that doesn’t make it "ok."

I think it is disgusting that you, on behalf of your company, are trying to excuse your bad taste and justify it. There is no excuse. There is no justification. Your company made a bad call and it needs to be rectified. Sending out a boxed response in an attempt to "tame the masses" does nothing to ease my displeasure, nor does it excuse the fact that you exploited animal abuse to sell a product.

I hope that you choose to respond to me with the same respect that I have shown you, with a personal attempt to take back this show of bad taste.

I look forward to your response,
Naomi

[cturtle]

I think thaT THEY may have used plastic for the bird (like they do on mcdonalds and burger king commercials). I think it would have been wrong to use a real bird (if it was 1). things can look real if it's plastic. I think that the people who made the commercials knew that if it was a real dead bird, then someone would respond to having that and so they used a plastic bird. HOPEFULLY!!

[Nomilynn]

It was a stuffed bird, or at least according to Mr. Richard Brunson. But that's not the point - at all. It doens't excuse the message.

A while back there was a commercial for Imperial Margarine where a baked potato was upset it couldnt "be with" the margerine and so it impaled itself on a fork. I wrote to the company, and basically said it's indecent to exploit a serious issue like suicide to sell a product. So what if it's a potato? That doens't make it ok. Someone wrote back to me - personally - and said they were sorry and were pulling the commercial from the air until they came up with a new one. Within a month or two, they had a new commercial out, where the margerine and the potato were on the conveyer belt at the grocery store, and the potato has a fantasy about running through a feild with the margerine until the reverie is shattered by one of those plastic order dividers. I was totally impressed with their swift action and humanitarian response. I think if we don't back down there is a chance Quizno's will get the message.

[RockyRoad]

I couldn't complain to them. When I went to send a complaint, they asked me for my phone number and all of this other stuff. I didn't want to give it to them, and I couldn't make up a phony number, so I just didn't do it. Is there another way, I mean, without sending my adress and phone numer to them as well?
Either way, I hated that commercial. Stuffed or non-stuffed, real or un-real, it is still pulling the same message through. And it was completely wrong to e-mail an animal lover a message saying the commercial was supposed to be HUMOROUS?! I see nothing funny about that commercial at all. I have never tried Quiznos myself, yet now I know I am never going to.

[Nomilynn]

for my phone number, I put n/a and it accepted it. I think there just has to be something in the comment line

[RockyRoad]

OK, thanks Naomi!

[Songlover]

Dear Popcornbird and other pet talk members; I have not seen this commercial since we do not have this company in Canada. However, I did sign the petition and added my comments as I think that the idea of portraying an animal dying of hunger while the so-called "superior being" looks on and takes no action to prevent it is reprehensible!!! What kind of message are we giving here???
It is the all too common message that domestic animals, including birds and rodents, are simply dispensible, and that is not the case!!!

I am so mad, I am just fuming over here in Montreal.....arghhhh!!!

Where will all of this lead??? Regards from Deborah

[Nomilynn]

Originally posted by Songlover
Dear Popcornbird and other pet talk members; I have not seen this commercial since we do not have this company in Canada.

There are Quiznos in Canada. That's why I've been writing about it and writing to Quiznos. Maybe you just don't have one near you Paul posted a direct link eariler in this thread so you can watch the commercial if you want to.

[Cataholic]

Naomi,
Your response back to Quiznos was wonderfully thought out! I, too, received a canned response, and responded, yet nothing as purrfect as yours!!!!! I hope they respond by pulling the ad! Thanks for carrying the torch for the furkids..
Johanna

[Nomilynn]

my dad is also going to write to them, after I told him about this. he hasn't even seen the commercial, but he said he didn't really think he wanted to

[popcornbird]

Here a link to the petition against this commercial.

http://www.petitiononline.com/seesthru/petition.html

Please sign everyone and leave comments too! I signed and left a comment. I *think* I am #1133 (not sure) but you can check. Please sign and let Quiznos know how very much unappreciated their commercial was, and how many customers they lost, rather than gained from that pathetic commercial!

[Cataholic]

Pop,
I thought I 'heard' they pulled this ad. Do you know anything about it? The herd and I signed the petition, AND sent an email. Gotta support the furry ones, no matter what type of 'fur' it is, ya know?