Kim Kardashian Replaced by Dog for Skechers Super Bowl Commerical [VIDEO]

It looks like Kim Kardashian's Skechers commercial is for the dogs.

The reality starlet, who was a spokesmodel for the shoe brand Skechers, was featured in the brand's Super Bowl commercial last year. But for 2012, Skechers has decided to drop Kim for a dog, a French bulldog to be exact.

Skechers insists that the choice has nothing to do with the negative PR surrounding Kim's 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries, reports USA Today. Kim got us more attention than we ever dreamed, said Leonard Armato, president of Skechers Fitness. We have to establish Skechers as more than a lifestyle company.

Armato noted that Skechers is next launching a high-tech running shoe business. Mark Cuban, millionaire businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will appear in the spot alongside the French bulldog. I'm not Kim Kardashian, Cuban said. But one of the things I do know is high technology and how to use it.

In the ad, the adorable pup appears dressed in Skechers' new GOrun shoes, ready to race a pack of greyhounds.

Skechers' contract with Kardashian expired at the end of 2011. Armato underlines that the reality stars' effect on the brand has been huge. Two months before the 2011 Super Bowl ad aired, Skechers' Facebook page had 100,000 fans. It now boasts 400,000, much of which Armato attributes to the Kardashian charm.

Kardashian has not yet commented. Though the change might not ruffle her feathers, animal rights groups feel different.

Grey2K USA is petitioning to cut the ad, claiming the greyhounds were mistreated during the filming and kept in tiny cages at Tucson Greyhound Park. Skechers using Tucson Greyhound Park as the backdrop for an ad is akin to Hertz calling back O.J. Simpson as a spokesperson, said Christine Dorchak, president of Grey2K.

But Tom Taylor, CEO of the track, argued that his cages are among the biggest in the country. Animal activists would like the cages to be 12 feet by 12 feet, with couches and TVs.

The American Humane Society said no animals were harmed in the making of the ad.

If you are already feeling nostalgic, you can view Kim Kardashian's Skechers commercial below.