This has got to be one of the most bizarre publicity ploys ever…but, go on. I’ll bite.

Whiskas (a cat food brand) had a TV promotion, MANY years ago, that stated that “8 Out of 10 Cats preferred Whiskas”. The cats were never really consulted – this was cat owners indicating that their fussy felines had turned up their little noses at other brands.

As Jimmy’s 2005 show, 8 Out of 10 Cats (here), was about polling statistics – that was the name chosen. As a longstanding and well-known British TV show a 2012 mash-up experiment resulted in the name being incorporated into the Cats Countdown spin off (here).

Fast forward now to 2026 and Whiskas are asking C4 to change the name of the original show to 9 Out of 10 Cats, on the basis that they have asked a whopping (?) 300 cat owners and the preference percentage has risen to 9.

They’ve taken out bus shelter posters and digital ads (The Mirror) to try and persuade C4 to change the name of a show…that ended in 2021.

What amused me about this story was I frequently see posts / comments (that mainly seem to be from our American cousins) that erroneously refer to the show as 9 Out of 10 Cats anyway.

But, yeah, I’m sure a £10k donation to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is going to persuade C4 to spend millions to update all of the show references and videos and so on.

Good free press, though.