Kia Gives Up 10,000 Robo Dogs For Adoption As NFTs To Save Real Animals

Animal lovers who never understood the appeal of Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens might instead be drawn by these robot dogs put up for adoption by Kia, which will additionally help rescue pets find new homes.

10,000 electronic puppies—based on the adorable star of the automaker’s Super Bowl LVI commercial for the all-electric Kia EV6—have been placed on NFT platform Sweet, waiting to be rehomed. Collectors who were quick enough to grab Kia’s free Adoption Passes (also NFTs) on February 11 also had first access to the Robo Dog.

In the real world, the adoption rate for older and bigger dogs is usually slower. Kia thus made it a point to incorporate some traits of senior or larger pets into its rarer NFTs so these characters would be “even more scarce and sought-after.”

Whether young or old in appearance, though, each Robo Dog NFT is generative and has its own unique “breed, age, size, gender, coat length, and color.”

Image via Sweet

The adoption narrative is befitting of the Super Bowl campaign, in which a forlorn Robo Dog, with its sad puppy-dog eyes, watches a real pup happily cozying up to its owner from a store window. The mechanical pooch then spots the driver of an EV6 and seizes the chance to make a connection.

With its electric puppy, the advertisement presents a multi-pronged message: It also represents Kia’s vision for an electrified future.

And just as in real life, owners would be doing good by adopting instead of shopping. 90% of proceeds from the NFTs—which each bears a starting bid of US$299—will be donated to the Petfinder Foundation, a nonprofit that gives out grants to animal charities.

The other 10% will be embedded in a smart contract to extend this goodwill, allowing for donations to still be made whenever the NFTs are resold elsewhere. This means that traders could help real animals find their forever homes even way after Super Bowl season just by adopting the Robo Dogs.

Image via Sweet

“As a dog owner myself, I can’t think of anything more engaging than the chance to have a Robo Dog of my own as a digital collectible and the opportunity to use NFT technology to help pets find loving homes,” describes Sweet’s CEO Tom Mizzone.

Image via Sweet

Image via Sweet

Image via Sweet

Image via Sweet

[via Marketing Dive and MotorTrend, images via various sources]