Ad description
A paid-for Meta ad from WiggyDog for a robot-dog toy, seen in January 2026, featured scenes of a white puppy and a brown puppy in different scenarios. In one scene a white puppy was shown moving around and wagging its tail. In another scene, a woman was shown holding a brown puppy. In another scene a girl was shown opening a toy box and a brown puppy climbed out. In further scenes a brown puppy was shown climbing on a person’s legs, walking around, sitting, wagging its tail, licking someone’s hand and moving its head. In a further scene a white puppy and a brown puppy were held in someone’s hands. Both puppies moved their heads.
The voice-over stated, “This robotic puppy looks so real it completely fooled my neighbour who is a veterinarian. I've been a grandmother for 15 years and this is the smartest purchase I've ever made. Last month I got my granddaughter, Emma, this smart, robotic puppy called Wuffy. I still can't believe what this tiny guy can do. This isn't just some stuffed animal. Wuffy has smart technology inside that recognises Emma's voice and responds to her. He sits on command, barks when you talk to him, walks around the house, even tilts his head and wags his tail exactly like a real puppy [...] It's like having a real puppy but made from completely safe materials. Three neighbours have already asked where we adopted him from, that's how realistic he looks [...]”.
Issue
Twenty-two complainants, who believed that the functionality and appearance of the product had been exaggerated in the ad, challenged whether it was misleading.
Response
UAB CommerceCore t/a WiggyDog said that they had conducted an internal review of the ad. It had been discontinued and was no longer being displayed. They did not intend to use it again.
They also said they were reviewing their internal compliance procedures to ensure future marketing communications complied with the CAP Code.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand from claims in the ad such as “This robotic puppy looks so real it completely fooled my neighbour who is a veterinarian”, “This isn't just some stuffed animal”, “He sits on command, barks when you talk to him, walks around the house, even tilts his head and wags his tail exactly like a real puppy” and “It's like having a real puppy” that the robot puppy would appear highly realistic and would look and behave like a real dog. We considered that the scenes in the video in the ad, which appeared to be of real and/or AI-generated puppies, also gave the impression that the product was highly realistic and lifelike.
WiggyDog provided no evidence regarding the functionality and appearance of the toy. In the absence of adequate evidence to demonstrate that the toy was highly realistic and looked and behaved like a real dog, we considered that the ad exaggerated the performance and characteristics of the product, and concluded it was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.11 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told UAB CommerceCore t/a WiggyDog to ensure their ads did not misleadingly represent or exaggerate the functionality and appearance of their products in future, for example, by stating or implying through claims or images that their product looked or behaved like a real dog.
