Plano-Based Marketing Firm Drops Breathing-Impaired Breeds From Ads After PETA Appeal

For Immediate Release:
February 13, 2024

Contact:
Brittney Williams 202-483-7382

After learning from PETA that bulldogs, pugs, and other breathing-impaired breeds (BIB) suffer from an array of physical disabilities due to their purposely flattened, pushed-in snouts, RKD Group—a locally headquartered marketing and fundraising provider for nonprofits nationwide—committed to not featuring these breeds in any of its newly produced advertisements. To thank RKD Group for its kind move, PETA will send the company delicious, paw-shaped vegan chocolates.

“Flat-faced dogs are purposely bred to have life-threatening deformities that make it difficult for them to breathe, let alone run, play, or do anything else important to dogs—and promoting them fuels demand,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA applauds RKD Group for taking a stand against glamorizing these suffering animals and urges other agencies, businesses, and institutions to follow its lead.”

PETA notes that BIBs suffer from a multitude of health problems due to their deliberately distorted and restricted airways, which shorten their lives and cause them to pant, snort, wheeze, and struggle just to breathe—all in order to achieve a particular look. The breeding industry responsible for these deformities is also one of the driving causes of the companion animal homelessness crisis, which sees around 70 million dogs and cats in the U.S. in need of a home at any given time, and every dog who is bred robs a homeless one of a chance at adoption. Many countries—including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway—have banned or restricted the breeding of some or all breathing-impaired breeds.

RKD Group joins a growing list of compassionate businesses—including Rite Aid, the Ad Council, Wieden+Kennedy, Hill Holliday, Ogilvy, and Leo Burnett Chicago—that have pledged not to use images of BIBs in advertising, marketing materials, greeting cards, or other consumer-facing products.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.