Last week, Malachy the Pekingese won “Best in Show” at the 2012 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. From the time that the news spread online, the comments came fast and furious about his looks, ranging from “adorable” to “ugly” to “strange” to “mop-like”.
To be expected, this Pekingese was not the kind of dog/breed everyone would be expected to automatically agree on as cute, like the Cesar dog food mascot, or either of the two beagles I had in my childhood home, who were pretty much “classic beagle” types and looked like their photos belonged on dog product labels, too.
But Malachy the Pekingese is different.
So different that he – pardon the pun – got tongues wagging.
A lot.
His win got people engaged and commenting, eliciting strong opinions and judgments long after the Westminster judges had made their final selection. There’s a teachable moment for the advertising community here – maybe even a lesson about life in general.
I live 40 miles from a historic and nationally recognized college basketball program that plays their games in Allen Fieldhouse, an arena revered as one of the best places in which to play college basketball. Yet as I was watching the action in this sweltering basketball mecca during a recent game, I realized that the best part of this program is not the continual conference titles, NCAA tournament appearances or All-America players that it produces.
The best part of having a tradition as rich as this one is the solidarity of sentiment about everything that is Kansas Basketball.
