Advertising Standards Bureau investigates if the Keyboard cat is being tortured after complaints

Advertising Standards Bureau investigates if the Keyboard cat is being tortured after complaints

Some humorless person in Australia seems to have never heard of Charlie Schmidt's keyboard cat before, as they filed a complaint to the Advertising Standards Bureau regarding the Telstra T-Hub ad featuring Alexander Graham Bell's head and the Keyboard Cat.

The cat is clearly being forced to play this piano does not appear to be comfortable and quite frankly I think it's cruel to depict a living animal being treated like a puppet. The fact that the person in the ad is reveling in the discomfort of a helpless animal is not something that should be promoted in society.

the ASB PDF here.
The ASB checked things out, and this is the best part;

The Board considered that it is very difficult to make a cat do anything it doesn't want to and considered it is clearly evident by the cat's demeanor that
"Fatso" is comfortable in the video and also considered that most members of the community would consider the depiction of the cat playing the piano as humorous.

Telstra T Hub™ - Keyboard Cat & Bell - (2010) :30


(The other two in the campaign, if you must, can be seen here paperweight & poppycock)
Thanks @ashadihopper who made me spit my first-morning coffee with that PDF

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to AdLand.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.