Power to the Pussycats!

This week’s movie documents a recent protest that Cats Against Clay waged in Berkeley, CA. If you’ve never heard of Cats Against Clay, here’s a little background:

C.A.C. (Cats Against Clay) is a cats-only member organization that has fought for litter box reform since 1992. It is the only known secret cat society in the United States, pursuing an agenda of standing up for the indignities shown to cats, including the elimination of chemical-based clay cat litters from the market. The C.A.C. says the time for lazing around in the warm sunny spot on the floor is over. It’s time for cats to “raise their paws in objection” and affect change.

History: In the early years, the C.A.C. effort was very local and scattered, supporting splinter groups that operated within select geographic areas. Communication between groups was limited, and mostly consisted of sending ‘strays’ back and forth with strategy and scheduled acts of defiance. In recent years, with the growth of digital media such as blogs and social networks (Facebook and Twitter), C.A.C. has grown into a national syndicate, with membership rumored at 3 million plus although exact numbers are well cloaked.

Campaign: Currently, the C.A.C. is mounting a comprehensive media attack, consisting of a website (catsagainstclay.org), outdoor billboards in prominent locations, banner ads on “cat blogs,” orchestrated protests in major markets, and other elements of guerilla marketing. The cats themselves have created the campaign. Ad pros have noticed the quality of the work, and are amazed at the ability of the cats. However, Laura Culp of Ad Times said it should be no surprise. “Anybody who owns cats knows they run the planet. We just live on it. It’s totally understandable that cats could conceive and produce their own ad campaign.”