It was a hard decision for the ad men at Skechers, but after much thoughtful deliberation they decided to pick a French bulldog to don the brand’s GORun shoes during this year’s Super Bowl game over the infamous star of her very own reality television series, Kim Kardashian.

Last year Kardashian featured prominently in the Skechers Super Bowl ad for their Shape-Up shoes in what was a bit of a hot advertisement for Super Bowl fans.  But Leonard Armato, the president of Skechers Fitness said that the choice of dog over woman has nothing to do with any backlash caused by last year’s commercial or her quickie marriage/divorce of recent days. Armato explained the choice of dog over Kardashian as follows: “Kim got us more attention than we ever dreamed. We have to establish Skechers as more than a lifestyle company.”

Armato went on to explain that although Kardashian’s contract with Skechers ended as of December 2011, she had a huge influence on the popularity of the brand. Armato believes that Kardashian’s presence in the commercial last year could be responsible for as much as a 400% increase in the number of fans on the Skechers Facebook page after the Super Bowl.