TBWA’s cultural intelligence output, Backslash, has released a video that explores the growing role of dogs in childfree households.
In South Korea, sales of dog strollers outpaced sales of baby strollers for the first time ever last year.
In Western and East Asian societies alike, birth rates are dropping while pet ownership continues to ramp up—suggesting that ‘fur babies’ may be becoming a more desirable alternative to human ones. Dog ownership has doubled since the 1990s with more than half of the world owning a pet.
Backlash, a team of 330-plus across the world, attempts to understand global shifts globally and locally, and what parts of culture the creative agency can tap into for clients.
In its ‘Child-free Pet Parents’ video, it speaks to child-free pet parents, ethologist Dr. Eniko Kubinyi, and the co-founder of DOG PPL to explore whether pets are simply filling the void left by a decline in babies or whether it is a sign of something deeper in modern families.
“We are not having fewer babies because we have dogs. Instead, something a lot deeper is going on,” Kubinyi said. “Many people today feel isolated. Families are smaller, communities are weaker and close relationships are harder to maintain.
“And at the same time, humans have a deep biological need to care for others and to feel emotionally supported.”
Speaking about the video, TBWA\Melbourne chief strategy officer Eloise Liley told B&T that it’s not only pets that adults are looking at to keep them company.
“This is a great example of the counter trends we are seeing across many factors. For every shift to the left, there’s a shift to the right. For every tech advancement, there’s a desire for simpler things or tech free zones,” she said.
“As the world gets more stressful for adults, they look for more ways to play, such as sales of toys for adults like boardgames and interactive games have gone through the roof in the last couple of years.”
