Pupfluencers

We have a dog, an amazing little Westie. Of course, we take a lot of photos of him. And, as a consequence, he’s got an Instagram account.

What I didn’t know, though, is how crazy the “pupfluencer” craze is. You know that there are management agencies for that? Or, sorry, influencer networks for them?

And that an influential puppy is paid $2,000 to put a post on his/her Instagram?

Pet influencing is booming. A 2018 Forbes article pegs the average endorsement deal for some of the most famous “petfluencers” at more than $2,000 per post; some, like Doug the Pug, are estimated to earn hundreds of thousands a year. There are even industry events, including PetCon—dubbed “the Coachella for Pets” in the New York Post. It’s not hard to see why: people love animals, so they’ve been used in all kinds of advertising for the past century, illustrating everything from the importance of family bonds after the Second World War to the humour of the 1980s and ’90s (think: Taco Bell’s anthropomorphic chihuahua or the Aflac insurance duck). And numerous scientific studies over the decades have proven that animals make us feel better—emotionally, physically, and mentally.

Read more here: My Quest to Make My Dog Internet Famous

It’s a space I’m really interested in.