There has been much debate about whether or not to use a Yorkshire terrier in the Real Yorkshire Pudding advertising campaign. Here is Daphne - a typical Yorkshire terrier:-
I mean, she is hardly capable of embodying the spirit of the great Yorkshire republic. The current Yorkshire terrier is a rodent-like lapdog which enjoys yelping hysterically without reason. It ought to have been called the London terrier. See Brutus below. Now that's what I call a dog! Let's ditch the Rottweiler monicker and rename him a Yorkshire Postman Hunting Dog:-
Of course one Yorkshire stereotype that endures is the image of a man with a flatcap taking his whippet for a run on a windswept moor. Below you can see John - a whippet from Grimesthorpe. A stupid looking creature but he may have commercial appeal.
You could use both Daphne and Brutus as a before and after illustration of what happens when you eat a Real Yorkshire Pudding. I'll leave it to you to decide which way round.
ReplyDeleteDaphne for sure. Much prettier than the other two!
ReplyDeleteJohn appeals to my canine aesthetic sensibilities more than Daphne or Brutus. I can picture myself saying "Good dog!" to John and scratching his ears and having a run. I can't picture it with the other two.
ReplyDeleteSHOOTING PARROTS Interesting notion which I shall forward to Colonel Gowans.
ReplyDeleteJENNY Soppy devil!
RHYMES WITH PLAGUE And I can picture John growling at you and then chasing you all the way to the Canton Country Club. Good way of keeping fit I guess.
I think none of the above!
ReplyDeleteI think a bulldog would be more appropriate
typically Yorkshire in their temprement
LOYAL, HUMOUROUS,and stubbon
EARL GRAY Thanks for the suggestion. Other Yorkshire characteristics of bulldogs - they are fat with many chins and slobber and fart a lot. I shall inform Colonel Gowans at the ad agency.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go with cutsie appeal on this one. Cuteness appeals to me, and snarling or look like a complete dork does not. There's no deeper meaning to my choice, just like the cute one this time around.
ReplyDeleteSo Sir Pud, as it stands we have two votes for Daphne, one for Brutus, one for John and a wild card introduced by the Welsh St Francis of Assisi. Were you looking in the mirror, Brother Gray, when you wrote that comment?
ReplyDeleteKELLY Welcome to the oft-times crazy world of Yorkshire Pudding. Thanks for dropping by. Any chance of a free holiday on a WI/IL border sheep farm?
ReplyDeleteHIPPO (Or may I call you Maurice?) This research indicates that we should go with the traditional Yorkshire terrier - at least in the first sequence of ads. In the second "season" we could introduce other creatures - such as Gabby the Angolan goat or William from the Trelawnyd Animal Sanctuary or Paddy and Jake the performing pooches from Mission Control in Wrexham or Bing the Lonely Sheep from the American midwest.
I like Maurice. I reckon I could have been a great Maurice. I would have been able to wear bow ties and fur felt fedoras and talk in a rrrrediculous French accent. After all, who would you employ as artisitc director for your ad campaign? Tom the Bomb or Maurice Le Francois? Thinking about it, dour Yorkshiremen would go for Tom the Bomb, wouldn't they?
ReplyDeleteWell, this is a democracy, what's left of it (I don't wish to annoy you again with my views on that, Sir Pud!) so we have to go with the little furry bedwetting rat. Unless there's another sudden flurry of voting.
Personally, I very much liked Earl Gray's idea of using a bulldog, even though a bulldog is seen as essentially Engliish rather than particularly Yorkshire.
I think in everyone's opinion, the Rottweiler was facing long odds. I cant see the RYP Company wanting their delicious family product associated with a sadistic thug. For a start, I would have to rewrite the scenarios. I really don't think the sight of a ferocious hound pinning its owner up against the wall and growling, 'Feed me RYP NOW or I'll chew yer nuts off!' would encourage the increase in sales the RYP Company aspire to.
My favourite, however, is the Dork as one correspondent put it. I think the dorky look would be perfect. While the dog looks dorky, and even his owner thinks he may be a little dorky, the dog is actually very clever and, during the ad campaign, is seen to be constantly outwitting his master and getting his RYP. Also, a whippet IS Yorkshire right down to colliery bands and Hovis. I can't see a REAL Yorkshireman walking into a straw on the floor ale house towing a beribboned Yorkie. I mean, what message do we wish to convey? That people who dote on lapdogs, dress them up and shampoo them every day eat Real Yorkshire Pudding. Really?
I don't really think any of the three appeal to me. One is too pretty, one too mean, and the last looks a little lost to me. None of the three "speak" to me as representative of a Yorkshire man/woman. But, you know, an American living in deep woods. What the heck do I know? I would think a Border Collie might personify... loyal, smart, hard-working.
ReplyDeleteMAURICE THE HIPPO (Sounds like a new children's story) I have attended a special management meeting at The Real Yorkshire Pudding Company and after a copious five course lunch Company President Albert Bloodletter wiped his mouth, burped and announced, "We're all Yorkshire ant we? Ee by gum 'n 't dog int advert ont telly as t'be a Yorkshire terrier. Full stop!" Then he waddled out to the car park, squeezed into his Bentley and screeched off to the golf club in Doncaster.
ReplyDeleteMOUNTAIN THYME "One is too pretty, one too mean, and the last looks a little lost to me"...Sounds like the American presidential election. The third one is Virgil Goode - the candidate - not the whippet.
Well I guess 'n 't dog int advert ont telly will be a Yorkshire terrier.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Sir Pud, with CGI (Computer Generated Images) I'll have the little bastard robbing Ostrich eggs...
HIPPO Real Yorkshire Puddings require hens' eggs, not bloody great ostrich eggs which would affect the flavour and size of our national dish.
ReplyDelete