This long-running television ad campaign by George Patterson Advertising for Lassie dog food features Sam – a golden Labrador retriever, regularly portrayed as the ideal family pet.

In this ad, Sam's family is seated around the dinner table, enjoying a hearty meal of roast chicken and vegetables while the dog looks on longingly. The ad uses a voice-over and thought bubble to tell us that Sam could be enjoying the same dinner as the rest of the family if only they had bought him Lassie's new chicken and vegetable variety.

It's a touching performance from Sam that plays on the affection we feel for our pets. Sam is very much a part of the family, so doesn't he deserve to eat the same food? The argument may have worked for a while, but Lassie couldn't topple the dominance of Pal in the Australian dog-food market, and the brand disappeared by the late 1970s.

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