Dog Breath
Dog Breath is a 2003 British television advertisement for the short-lived Wrigley's chewing gum brand X-cite. Created by the agency Abbott Mead Vickers and directed by the duo Happy, the advertisement depicts a collapsed man vomiting a scruffy dog in a visual metaphor for 'dog breath'. To remove the smell, the man chews some gum and the dog disappears. Post-production company Framestore CFC were hired to create the sequence in which the man regurgitates the dog, employing computer animation.
Debuting on 3 March 2003, Dog Breath became the most complained-about advertisement in British television history, with the Independent Television Commission (ITC) recording 863 complaints that the commercial made them physically sick or that it scared their children, who began fearing their pet dogs. On 13 March, Wrigley's issued an apology and agreed to restrict the advertisement to post-watershed hours to limit it being viewed by children, while the ITC announced an investigation as to whether the advert breached guidelines. Complaints continued to rise, and on 17 March, Wrigley's withdrew the advert completely, replacing it a week later with a new commercial for Orbit Ice White gum. Honoured at the D&AD Awards, Dog Breath's graphic content received wide media coverage.
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