When Kimberly Clark, the company behind the Andrex bathroom tissue brand, announced in 2010 that it would be using a computer-generated character instead of a real-life puppy in new commercials, it ended an era. Over 130 commercials featuring a Labrador Retriever puppy were made to sell the product (which, as an aside, was the very first two-ply tissue).
The original idea in 1972 was for a young girl to run through a house trailing a roll of Andrex. TV regulators disapproved of this idea and felt it encouraged children to be wasteful. Instead, Bowater-Scott’s Marketing Director opted to use a Labrador Retriever puppy instead. During the next 38 years, the “Andrex Puppy,” became synonymous with the brand.
See the first commercial to star the puppy in 1972:
Image is not an Andrex puppy, but a photo by © Celia Ridley from Dreamstime Stock Photo service