The VW Polo singing dog commercial

It is clear that this blog is surfing the Zeitgeist. No sooner do I develop an obsession with Steve Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group than their song "I'm a Man" is featured in the nation's most popular TV commercial.

You can find the VW Polo advertisement here. But note that the version of "I'm a Man" used in it is not by the Spencer Davis Group. It is by a current-day singer called Charlie Winston.

But if you want to hear Steve Winwood sing it, go to the particularly fine live performance by the Spencer Davis Group that was my Sunday video a few weeks ago.

But not everyone is happy with the advertisement.

According to the Daily Telegraph:

The RSPCA is investigating the commercial after 286 viewers complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the dog appeared to have been mistreated ...
A spokeswoman said: "We have asked how it was filmed and have been told the dog was acting. But we are very disappointed that Volkswagen feel it necessary to portray a dog suffering to sell cars, whether it was genuine or staged."
She added that the dog should be wearing a harness while it is in the car, and should be travelling in the back of the vehicle.

I can just about see why someone might find the dog shivering distasteful, but a harness? Listen, people: It's not a real dog.

And what would the RSPCA have made of the film Rescued by Rover, as described by Matthew Sweet in Shepperton Babylon? In it the canine hero:

pounds off in hot pursuit, jumps into the driving seat of the abductor's car and, paws on the steering wheel, chugs his charge back to safety along the road from Shepperton to Walton.