It has been a few years since “Bullseye” has appeared as the Target “SpokesDog,” but the company is hoping that a revival of the Bull Terrier mascot will resuscitate its fading image.
The original Bullseye was a Bull Terrier named “Arielle” who debuted in Target’s 1999, “Sign of the Times” TV spots and billboards. Target’s red-and-white bull’s-eye logo was even found around Arielle’s eye.
For the next decade, however, a Bull Terrier named, “Nikki” did the bulk of the work as Bullseye. She made appearances at store openings and rubbed shoulders, uh, shins with the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Clint Eastwood. “Nikki,” the longest-serving Bullseye (and a rescue) is now 13 and spends her days on her trainer’s ranch in Santa Clarita, California.
Now Bullseye is played by a 7-year-old Bull Terrier, one of three dogs who take turns as the mascot because they are kept busy! Since last year, Target installed Bullseye benches at over 1,400 stores where shoppers can pose with a replica Bullseye for a selfie, and for the first time in a decade, Bullseye stars in several Target commercials including one featuring “Star Wars” storm troopers.
Why do we like Target’s mascot? Because according to Google, “What breed is the Target dog?” was one of the most popular dog-related searches this year, and that’s good exposure for the breed as long as there’s also an effort to educate the public about Bull Terriers (a teachable opportunity, if ever there was one).
Image: Photo of Bullseye at the 2009 ceremonial start of the Iditarod by David Weekly appears here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.