ABOUT

BACKGROUND:
Nose of Justice is a dog treat and advocacy brand, led by a corgi on a mission to expose corruption in the pet food world. Starting with what’s actually in dog treats. And it’s worse than you might expect.

Multiple university studies have found more than half of dog foods and treats tested contain meat species not disclosed on the label. A 2023 study even found dog DNA in 2 of 6 brands. Beyond being just plain gross, unlabeled meat can pose a serious health issue for dogs with allergies to specific ingredients, because pet parents have no way of avoiding them if the label is not accurate.

Dog food manufacturers are getting away with this because they can; the FDA has been lax with enforcement and hasn’t made dog food regulation a priority.

CONCEPT:
Protest unexpected meat in dog food, by sending unexpected meat to the organization that regulates dog food – the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

EXECUTION:
In a carefully orchestrated stunt, we sent man meat to the FDA’s office, in the form of an exotic dancer named Jamal. And made a completely ridiculous video to make a completely serious point: unexpected meat has no business being in dog food.

The stunt drew people into more in-depth information like an open letter to the FDA written from a dog’s perspective, a digital toolkit of FDA-unapproved assets for people to share, and educational materials on the state of regulation in the pet food industry and how to test their own food and treats.

RESULTS:
The stunt successfully generated earned media and got people and press talking all over the world, sparking conversation as far away as Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, and Turkey:

“A stunt needs to be clever and/or outrageous to attract attention… dog treat brand Nose of Justice has nailed that brief.” –TheStable

“With a mix of humor and activism, Nose of Justice is launching single-ingredient treats [and] DNA-verified products —all part of Churro’s growing quest to ‘Treat Dogs Right.’” – AdAge

“When studies and activism lead to no change, the next best step is seduction” –Campaign US

“An oddball effort worth a peek.” -Muse by Clios

“Between stripper activism and serious messaging, Nose of Justice may have just pulled off the weirdest (and most memorable) marketing moment of the year.” –2ndofthemonth

With only a few hundred dollars in media, the video was viewed 350,000 times, and became a top-trending post on Reddit’s r/pranks and r/nextfuckinglevel, achieving a CTR 8.9x higher than the Reddit average.

And yes, sales increased too – up 425% month-over-month.

We successfully launched a brand with a mix of humor, activism, and standing up for doing right by dogs. Exercised first amendment rights at a time when it is increasingly perilous, but important, to do so. And protested an issue that needs to be addressed.

The FDA has yet to respond with an official comment.