--- description: American spending on pets reached a record $55.7 billion last year, according to the American Pet Products Association. “If the pet industry were tracked by... title: If You Have a Heart, This Puppy Ad Will Completely Melt It image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Advertising](/tag/advertising/) ## Advertising Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # If You Have a Heart, This Puppy Ad Will Completely Melt It by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 19, 2014 12:56 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 19, 2014 12:56 PM CUT American spending on pets reached a record $55.7 billion last year, according to the American Pet Products Association. “If the pet industry were tracked by the U.S. government as a single entity, we’d be the seventh largest retail segment in the country,” Bob Vetere, CEO of the industry group [told TIME recently](http://time.com/48004/startups-going-to-the-dogs/ "undefined"). All that spending has been a boon to pet-food marketers willing to capitalize on the Web’s obsession with animals. Now Pedigree New Zealand is trying to use puppies and YouTube’s revenue-sharing model to raise money for dog charity—and drive views. Apparently, this involves watching uber-cute dachshunds eating hot dogs. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/69065/if-you-have-a-heart-this-puppy-ad-will-completely-melt-it/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/69065/if-you-have-a-heart-this-puppy-ad-will-completely-melt-it/"},"headline":"If You Have a Heart, This Puppy Ad Will Completely Melt It","datePublished":"2014-04-19T12:56:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:23:35.389Z","description":"American spending on pets reached a record $55.7 billion last year, according to the American Pet Products Association. “If the pet industry were tracked by...","url":"https://time.com/69065/if-you-have-a-heart-this-puppy-ad-will-completely-melt-it/","keywords":["Advertising","Marketing & Advertising"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/advertising/","name":"Advertising"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/69065/if-you-have-a-heart-this-puppy-ad-will-completely-melt-it/","name":"If You Have a Heart, This Puppy Ad Will Completely Melt It"}}]}] ```