French ASPCA Writes a Love Poem for Pets That Face Abandonment This Summer

There are downsides to long vacation times

In France, the standard vacation period for salaried workers is five weeks in the year. Thus, for most of August, the country shuffles around for vacationers, and Paris empties for all but tourists.

The negative: There’s a huge problem where people abandon pets during that period. Maybe because it’s hard to find somebody who’ll take your dog for a month. In 2023, about 100,000 pets were estimated to get abandoned each year.

With this in mind, the SPA—France’s version of the ASPCA—has released a touching film. Created alongside agency Notchup, and featuring the well-known voice of longtime actor Gilles Lellouche, “Abandon” is a narrated love poem from pets to their masters. (The notion of “pet parents” hasn’t really taken hold on this side of the Atlantic.)

Play

The narrative is supported by imagery of people experiencing touching, frustrating and comical moments with their pets. A dog gnashes the feathers out of cushions. A person picks poo up off wet pavement in pouring rain. There are quiet cuddles, and plenty of doe-eyed gazing under furry brows.

The approach recalls the “Du côté des mamans” (“On the Side of Mothers”) campaign by French baby food brand Blédina. It’s nearly 20 years old now, and used scenes of love alongside those of frustration and agony to illustrate mothers’ everyday travails, backed by the Supremes’ “Baby Love.”

At the time, it made waves for depicting motherhood as not entirely positive, but that’s what made it touching: Seeing the hard stuff through is what makes a parent. The same can be said for “Abandon,” which pulls similar emotional chords to arrive at the same logic: Loving a pet isn’t just about the cuddles or the convenience of companionship. It’s a complete relationship with a creature that is fully reliant on you showing up day in and out.

“Abandon” is designed to strengthen the ties that bind people to pets, rather than acting as a guilt trip by implication. “Instead of denouncing abandoners, we wanted to take a bet on valorizing people who hold the line, who don’t give up despite the difficulties—the vast majority of pet owners,” says Philippe Robin, creative director and co-president at Notchup. 

Translated, the ad’s narration says roughly this (though sadly it loses its poetic charm):

My friend, my human, my companion, my master
I’ll speak to you of things that only you can know

My doggy bowl, my mischief, my pee-pees, my whines
Your cuddles, your bravo’s, your rages and tickles

Every day we’ve woven threads
You’re now as much mine as I am yours

With you I’ve grown, with you I’ve learnt
Each day beside you I grow bigger

You’re there for me, day and night
Under bright sun and pouring rain

I share your joys, your humors, your fatigue
You can tell me with a look that you love me

Sometimes I love you so much I do naughty things
But after the storms, I look for your hand

I sometimes stay up thinking, in fear
That you’ll get discouraged and leave me

That you’ll lower your arms, that my life may become a weight
…That, to make things easier, you make the worst imaginable choice

But you’re my hero, my master forever
And like all heroes, you never give up

It concludes, right on the cold, wet nose: “The SPA thanks everyone that doesn’t abandon their pet.”

The campaign goes live on July 1 across pretty much all available communications channels, just ahead of big-ticket vacation time.