Roach-vertising

Status: Strange (but real) marketing campaign
image You see a large cockroach on your floor. If you don't scream and run the other way, you might try to kill it. But it won't squash like a normal roach. So you pick it up, and then you see the advertisement printed on the bottom of it: "See how easy it is to get into your house? D.D. Drin. Insect Elimination."

This scenario may happen to you, because fake slogan-bearing roaches are apparently being slipped beneath people's doors as part of a marketing campaign designed by Master Comunicacao, a Brazilian ad agency (as reported by AdArena). I don't know why the ad is in English if the agency is Brazilian.

Ironically enough, given this campaign, in the advertising industry consumers themselves are sometimes referred to as roaches. Thus 'roach baiting' refers to the practice of hiring cool-looking people to hang out in public and visibly use a product. The cool-looking person is supposed to serve as a trendsetter who influences roaches (i.e. the consumers) to follow his or her lead.

Advertising

Posted on Mon Jul 10, 2006


Comments

Boy, you just GOTTA love an industry that refers to its customers as "roaches." Smell the respect!
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  01:59 AM
Actually that joke works better as "Smell the condescension!"
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  02:00 AM
Right, there is no way in the world that I would pick up a roach, even if it refused to squish :sick:
Posted by Nettie  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  04:47 AM
Wouldn't it be illegal to put roaches in someone's house and then offer them exterminating services? Not like you could deny it if your ad is on a roach. . . .
Posted by JoeDaJuggler  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  07:58 AM
Consumers aren't the customers for a marketing company. They are the marks, and calling them roaches is dead-on for their attitude. Their customers are the ones paying them - the companies whose stuff they are advertisting.
Posted by Terry Austin  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  09:36 AM
I want one of those roaches :cheese:
Posted by oppiejoe  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  10:43 AM
Considering they are using a Madagascarian hissing cockroach, this is not your garden variety critter. They are actually very clean and make great pets. You can find them in most specialty pet shops for between $8-10. Just remember, these guys can get to be about 3" (8cm)and will live 3-5 years. They are great fun though and really good for messing with the neighbors.
Posted by Lounge Lizard  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  11:06 AM
I was under the impression they were fake roaches. Rubber roaches look surprisingly lifelike.
Posted by Razela  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  03:36 PM
"... they are using a Madagascarian hissing cockroach ... these guys can get to be about 3" (8cm)and will live 3-5 years."

Three inches? They'd be considered dwarves here in Dallas. Remind me to tell you what my cat dragged in the other day ... 🐛
Posted by Big Gary  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  05:41 PM
Nevertheless, if anybody slips a fake roach into my home AND is dumb enough to leave their name or address on it, I'll press charges for breaking and entering.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  05:44 PM
Are you sure this isn't a joke?
The idea that there are any houses in Brazil (or anywhere in the tropics) that aren't already full of insects strikes me as fairly ridiculous.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  05:46 PM
rawr rawr avertising is evil rawr.
Sorry, I just feel better when I say that.
Posted by Citizen Premier  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  08:09 PM
And I am thinking of getting some madagascar roaches. They'd make good friends for my giant millipedes, probably, and if not it would probably be fun to watch my centipede eat one.
Posted by Citizen Premier  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  08:18 PM
I wouldn't even stamp on a roach, let alone pick it up. I'd be coating it with half a can of flyspray until it was white with the stuff!
Posted by Smerk  on  Tue Jul 11, 2006  at  10:01 PM
It wouldn't be the first time roaches were used in a gimmick. In Tucson we had a $100,000 roach contest. A radio station released 100 roaches with a "marker" on them and supposedly if you found one it was worth one hundred grand. People only ever won money in the secondary contest... largest roach.
Posted by pjsiqhh  on  Wed Jul 12, 2006  at  03:09 AM
Isn't this exactly the same thing as the people who slip fake hands into your purse that tell you how easy it is to be pick-pocketed?
Posted by Dracul  on  Wed Jul 12, 2006  at  09:38 AM
I should start a kevlar vest company, then go around shooting people as advertisements. 😛
Posted by Charybdis  on  Wed Jul 12, 2006  at  09:54 AM
I think it would have been much more effective (if real) if they would have used these guys instead...

Posted by TWM  on  Wed Jul 12, 2006  at  01:00 PM
Oooooh, yeah, TWM, now you're talkin'.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Wed Jul 12, 2006  at  04:33 PM
Hey Big Gary.. why don't u come down here to check the giant insects that live in our houses??

How can I still be amazed by all the ignorance in the world...
Posted by Chuck  on  Mon Aug 14, 2006  at  11:43 AM
That's why ads are so mind-numbingly stupid! They're made to entertain roaches. Someone should tell them bugs don't watch TV!
Posted by trish  on  Tue Jul 26, 2011  at  03:32 PM
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