Advertising / Suzy Puppy

No, the actual ad isn't anywhere near as cute as this.

Suzy Puppy is a British anti-puppy mill Public Service Announcement disguised as a toy commercial released in 2016 and produced by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Introducing Suzy Puppy; the pup that everyone loves! A little girl is delighted to have her...only to learn that her supposedly perfect puppy isn't all that she seems.

Compare Cutie Polluties, a series of grotesquely-cute plush animals hiding dark secrets (just with pollution instead of puppy farms).

Tropes:

• All There in the Manual: The real Suzy toy comes with a registration certificate stating that she is from her mother's twentieth litter, that she has severe conjunctivitis, parvovirus, and fleas, and that her mother was slaughtered soon after she was born.
• Break the Cutie: The little girl, who becomes more and more horrified by Suzy's condition as the ad progresses. By the end, she's left in shock and speechless as she has to bury her poor puppy.
• Breeding Slave: Suzy's unseen mother was locked in a dark cage and forced to birth sickly puppies by the puppy mill that owned her. According to Suzy's registration certificate, her mother has had twenty litters of puppies.
• Censored Child Death: Suzy's inevitable death from her many illnesses is only talked about; her actual death and body^note which is wrapped in a blanket out of the audience's view are not shown on screen.
• Death of a Child: Suzy dies at the end of the ad.
• Delicate and Sickly: As a result of being bred in unhygienic conditions in a puppy mill, Suzy is suffering from parvovirus, conjunctivitis, diarrhoea, fleas, and (according to the toy's packaging) worms. The narrator comments that she's so ill that she'll probably be dead in weeks.
• Dissonant Serenity: Used to deliberately unnerving effect. The announcer sure does sound cheery as she talks about how sick Suzy is and how little time she has to live.
• Downer Ending: Suzy dies of illness due to the puppy mill's irresponsible breeding practices and lack of care, and is buried by her immensely heartbroken owner.
• Eye Scream: Suzy's conjunctivitis is so bad, one of her eyes is bulging out of her head.
• Fun with Acronyms: Well, it certainly isn't fun, but the ad ends with an acronym called P.U.P.S. to remember how to buy a puppy responsibly.
  • P is for Parent - Never buy a puppy without meeting their mother.
  • U is for Underage - Never buy a puppy that is under eight weeks old.
  • P is for Papers - Always check your puppy's papers.
  • S is for Sickness - Always check your puppy for sickness.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: At the end of the ad, the music slows down and takes on a more sinister tone when the little girl has to bury Suzy.
• Minimalist Cast: The only characters are Suzy, the little girl, and the narrator.
• Missing Mom: Suzy was taken away from her mother, who is not shown in the ad.
  • The real Suzy toy reveals that Suzy's mother was slaughtered not long after Suzy's birth.
• Mood Whiplash: The ad starts out cutesy and innocent, but starts to get dark when Suzy is shown to be very sick. The ad then takes an ever darker turn when Suzy's mother is revealed to have spent her life in a dark cage, and at the end, Suzy succumbs to her illnesses.
• No Name Given: The young girl who receives Suzy is never named.
• Pink Means Feminine: Many things in the ad, from the logo to the girl's clothing to the bedroom set, is pink.
• Potty Failure: Suzy has diarrhoea, and ends up going on the floor (which is shown in full detail).
• Precious Puppy: A hard subversion; Suzy is an adorable puppy...who is deathly ill due to having been born in a puppy mill, and will probably die very soon.
• Sudden Soundtrack Stop: The happy background music abruptly shuts off when the narrator announces that "Suzy's mum spent her life confined in darkness!"
• Tag Line: "Only 6 weeks to live!"
• Two-Faced: One of Suzy's eyes is normal, while the other is bulging out and dripping with yellow pus due to conjunctivitis.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Downplayed; both Suzy and the little girl wear pink bows in their hair.
• Wham Line: The commercial seems like an ad for a cutesy children's toy...until the narrator cheerfully announces, "Suzy comes with a deadly parvovirus!"
• Wham Shot: The viewer isn't likely to realize what the ad is actually for until the girl turns Suzy around to reveal her disease-ridden face.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: According to the real Suzy toy, Suzy's mother was slaughtered not long after she was born, implied to be because she couldn't conceive any more litters of puppies for the puppy mill that owned her.